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THE    MODERN    LIBRARY 

OF    THE    world's    BEST    BOOKS 


SELECTED    ADDRESSES 

AND 

PUBLIC    PAPERS 

OF 

WOODROW    WILSON 


Turn  to  the  End  of  This 
Volume  for  a  Complete 
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ern Library. 


y  VI 1 1- e-  d    S-x  _  .  i>Y-e .<. ■" cJ e ^ 


\SELECTED  ADDRESSES 
AND  PUBLIC  PAPERS  OF 
WOODROW     WILSON 


EDITED  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By  ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART 


BONI   AND  LIVERIGHT 


PUBLISHERS         •••         .-.  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  191 8,  by 
Boni  &  Liveright,  Inc. 


Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A, 


CONTENTS 

PAGR 

INTRODUCTION i-v 

YEAR  1913 1-21 

A  New  President's  Principles  (First  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress)— 1-5;  Grover  Cleveland  (Letter  on  Dedication 
OF  Cleveland's  Birthplace) — 5-6;  Reform  of  the 
Tariff  (Address  to  Congress) — 6-8;  The  Tariff 
Lobby  (Statement  Given  to  the  Press) — 9;  The 
Nation  and  the  Soldier  (Address  at  Gettysburg) 
— 10-13 ;  To  the  Citizens  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
(Message  Sent  by  Governor-General  Harrison) — 13; 
Ideals  of  the  College  (Address  at  Swarthmore  Col- 
lege)— 14-16;  Relations  with  Latin  America  (Ad- 
dress Before  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress 
AT  Mobile)— 16-21 

YEAR  1914 22-60 

Regulation  of  Trusts  (Address  to  Congress) — ^21-27; 
Tolls  on  the  Panama  Canal  (Address  to  Congress) 
— 27-28 ;  Patriotism  and  the  Sailor  (Address  at  the 
Unveiling  of  the  Statue  of  Commodore  John  Barry) 
— 28-32;  The  Men  Who  Fought  for  the  Union 
(Memorial  Day  Address  at  Arlington) — 32-34; 
Union  of  Spirit  Between  North  and  South  (Ad- 
dress at  a  Monument  in  Memory  of  the  Confeder- 
ate Dead  at  Arlington) — 34-36;  The  Naval  Service 
(Address  at  the  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis) — 36-39; 
America  as  a  World  Power  (Address  at  Independ- 
ence Hall,  Philadelphia) — 39-44;  Neutrality  of 
Feeling  (A  Presidential  Proclamation) — 14-46;  In- 
ternational AND  Municipal  Law  (Address  Before 
the  American  Bar  Association) — 46-48;  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  (Address  Before  the 
American  Bar  Association) — 49-55;  Foreign  Trade 
AND  Ship  Building  (Address  to  Congress) — 55-60. 

YEAR  1915 61-94 

The  Democratic  Party  (Jackson  Day  Address  at 
Indianapolis)— 61-67;  Proper  Tests  of  Immigrants 
(Veto  Message  of  the  Literacy  Test  Bill) — 67-70; 
National  Commerce  (Address  to  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  at  Washington)— 70-77;  A 
Confused  World  at  War  (Address  to  the  Confer- 
ence of  Methodist  Protestant  Church  at  Wash- 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ington) — 77-78;  America  First  (Address  at  a  Meet- 
ing OF  THE  Associated  Press  at  New  York) — 78-83; 
The  Laws  of  Neutrality  (Despatch  Sent  Through 
Secretary  Bryan  to  Germany) — 83-85;  Citizens  of 
Foreign  Birth  (Address  to  Naturalized  Citizens  at 
Convention  Hall,  Philadelphia) — 85-89;  Sinking  of 

THE  "LuSITANIA"  (DESPATCH  OF  PROTEST  THROUGH  SEC- 
RETARY Bryan  to  Germany) — 89-90;  What  the  Flag 
Means  (Address  at  Flag  Day  Exercises,  Washing- 
ton)— 90-93;  Preparedness  for  Defense  (Address  to 
the  Civilian  Advisory  Board  of  the  Navy  at  the 
White  House)— 93-94. 

YEAR  1916 95-lTO 

What  Is  Pan-Americanism?  (Address  to  Pan-Am- 
erican Scientific  Congress  at  Washington) — 95-100; 
Need  of  an  Army  and  Navy  (Address  at  New  York) 
— 100-105;  How  to  Avoid  War  (Letter  to  Senator 
Stone) — 105-107 ;  Basis  of  American  Foreign  Policy 
(Address  to  the  Gridiron  Club  at  Washington) — 
107-109;  Right  of  Americans  to  Traverse  the  Seas 
(Letter  to  Representative  Pou  on  the  McLemore 
Resolution) — 109-110;  Expedition  into  Mexico 
(Statement  to  the  Press) — 110-111;  Ultimatum  on 
Submarine  Warfare  (Address  to  Congress) — 111-116; 
Qualifications  of  a  Supreme  Court  Justice/  (Let- 
ter TO  Senator  Culberson  on  Mr.  Brandeis) — 117- 
120;  German  Abandonment  of  the  Submarine  Pol- 
icy (Despatch  to  the  German  Government  Through 
Secretry  Lansing) — 120-121;  How  to  Enforce  Peace 
(Address  to  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace  at  Wash- 
ington) ;  121-125;  Preparedness  to  the  Soldier  (Ad- 
dress AT  the  Military  Academy,  West  Point) — 125- 
131;  Democracy  of  Business  (Address  at  Salesman- 
ship Congress,  Detroit) — 132-137;  Preparedness  to 
Preserve  Peace  (Address  at  Toledo) — 138-139;  Loy- 
alty (Address  at  Citizenship  Convention,  Wash- 
ington)— 139-143;  An  Eight-Hour  Day  for  Railroad 
Men  (Address  to  Congress) — 143-150;  Abraham  Lin- 
coln (Address  at  the  Lincoln  Birthplace  Farm, 
AT  Hodgenville) — 150-154;  The  Forces  of  Freedom 
(Address  at  Suffrage  Convention,  Atlantic  City)  — 
154-157;  World  Business  of  America  (Address  to 
the  Grain  Dealers'  Association,  at  Baltimore)  — 
157-162;  A  Society  of  Nations  (Address  at  Cincin- 
nati)— 162-164;  The  End  of  Isolation  (Address  at 
Shadow  Lawn) — 164-165;  The  Right  Hand  to  La- 
bor (Address  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
AT  the  White  House)— 165-166 ;  The  Way  to  Peace 
(Despatch  Partly  in  Reply  to  German  Proposition 
of  PeacEj  Through  Secretary  Lansing) — 167-170. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 
YEAR    1917 171-240 

Support  for  the  Red  Cross  (Public  Appeal  as  Presi- 
dent OF  THE  Red  Cross) — 171-172;  Conditions  of 
Peace  (Address  to  the  Senate) — 172-179;  Breach 
with  Germany  (Address  to  Congress) — 179-183;  A 
Great  Inventor  (Letter  to  Thomas  A,  Edison  on 
His  70th  Birthday) — 183;  Political  Principles  of 
Americans  (Second  Inaugural  Address) — 184-188; 
Necessity  of  War  Against  Germany  (Address  to 
Congress) — 188-197;  The  American  People  Must 
Support  the  War  (Public  Appeal  by  the  Presidpnt 
to  His  Fellow  Countrymen) — 197-201;  The  Red 
Cross  (Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Red  Cross 
Building  in  Washington) — 202-204;  Objects  in  Go- 
ing to  War  (Letter  to  Representative  Heflin)  — 
204-205 ;  Need  of  a  Censorship  Law  (Letter  to  Repre- 
sentative Webb) — 205-206;  Friendship  with  Russia 
(Cablegram  to  Russia) — 206-208;  Defenders  of 
American  Honor  (Address  at  Arlington  Cemetery) 
— 209-210;  Insults  and  Aggressions  of  Germany  (Ad- 
dress ON  Flag  Day  at  Washington) — 210-211 ;  Greet- 
ing to  French  Democracy  (Cablegram  to  the  French 
Government) — 217;  The  Bible  and  the  Soldier 
(Message  to  Soldiers  and  Sailors) — 217-218;  Patri- 
otic Teaching  in  Schools  (Public  Appeal  to  School 
Officers) — 218-219;  Papal  Propositions  of  Peace  ••! 
(Reply  to  the  Pope  Through  Secretary  Lansing) — 
219-222;  To  the  Soldiers  of  the  National  Army 
(Public  Message  to  the  Drafted  Men) — 222-223; 
The  Junior  Red  Cross  (Proclamation  to  the  School 
Children  of  the  United  States) — 223-224;  Women 
and  the  Suffrage  (Reply  to  a  Delegation  from  the 
New  York  State  Woman's  Suffrage  Party,  at  the 
White  House) — 224-226;  Labor  and  the  War  (Ad- 
dress to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  Conven- 
tion at  Buffalo) — 226-230;  Universal  Loyalty 
(Telegram  to  the  Northwest  Loyalty  Meetings, 
St.  Paul) — 231;  Sympathy  with  the  Belgians 
(Cablegram  to  King  Albert  of  Belgium) — 231-232; 
Extension  of  the  War  to  Austria-Hungary  (Ad- 
dress to  Congress) — 232-238;  Government  Control 
OF  Railroads   (Public  Statement) — 238-240. 

YEAR  1918 241-289 

Organization  for  the  War  (Address  to  Congress) 
— 241-244;  Fourteen  Conditions  of  Peace  (Address  to 
Congress) — 244-251;  The  Farmers'  Patriotism  (Mes- 
sage to  the  Farmers'  Conference  at  Urbana,  III.)  — 
251-255;  Honor  to  the  Red  Cross  (Address  to  the 
Public  Meeting  in  New  York,  Opening  a  Campaign 
for  the  Second  Red  Cross  Fund) — 256-260;  War-Timz 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Prohibition  (Letter  to  Senator  Sheppard) — 260-261; 
Disinterested  Service  to  Latin  America  (Address  to 
Mexican  Editors  at  the  White  House) — 261-266; 
Four  Factors  of  World  Peace  (Address  at  Mount 
Vernon) — 266-269;  Lynching  Is  Unpatriotic  (Pub- 
lic Address  to  Fellow  Countrymen) — 270-271;  Re- 
building OF  Palestine  (Letter  to  Rabbi  Wise) — 272; 
German  War  Against  Labor  (Public  Message  to 
Labor  on  Labor  Day) — 272-274;  A  Few  Words  to 
Austria  (Despatch  to  the  Austrian  Government 
Through  Secretary  Lansing) — 275;  Five  Needs  of 
Permanent  Peace  (Address  to  Public  Meeting  in 
New  York,  Opening  the  Fourth  Liberty  Loan) — 
275-282;  College  Soldiers  (Public  Message  to  the 
Student  Corps) — 282-283;  Question  of  an  Armistice 
(Despatch  to  the  German  Government  Through 
Secretary  Lansing) — 283-284;  No  Negotiated  Peace 
with  Germany  (Despatch  to  the  German  Govern- 
ment Through  Secretary  Lansing) — 284-286;  The 
Armistice  with  Germany  (Address  to  Congress) — 
286-289;  Address  Before  Going  Abroad  (Address  to 
Congress)— 289-303. 

INDEX ,     .     c 305-316 


INTRODUCTION 


This  collection  of  the  public  communications  of  President 
Wilson  to  the  American  people  can  only  be  a  selection, 
inasmuch  as  the  space  available  is  not  sufficient  for  more 
than  a  third  of  the  full  text  of  (the  public  materials  pro- 
ceeding from  Woodrow  Wilson.  The  principles  upon  which 
the  selection  is  made  should  be  made  clear.  Nothing  ap- 
pears in  this  volimie  of  earlier  date  than  the  first  inaugura- 
lion  of  President  Wilson;  at  the  other  time  extremity,  it  is 
brought  down  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  date  of  publica- 
tion. Previous  collections  have  been  examined,  but  have 
no  influence  on  the  choice  of  pieces:  naturally  the  most 
agnificant  utterances  of  the  President  will  find  a  place  in 
any  collection.  The  foundation  for  the  text  is  a  set  of 
pamphlet  editions  of  the  President's  public  addresses  oblig- 
ingly furnished  to  the  publishers  by  the  President's  office, 
and  referred  to  throughout,  wtherever  used,  as  White  House 
Pardphlet.  Titles  are  inserted  by  the  editor,  since  few  of  the 
documents  were  originally  printed  under  subject  captions. 

Many  very  characteristic  addresses  and  letters,  however, 
are  not  included  in  these  printed  materials,  and  have  been 
searched  for  through  the  public  records  of  Congress  and  the 
periodical  and  newspaper  press.     Indications  of  origin  ir 
previous   collections  have   furnished  useful   clues  to  som 
originals.     Other  pieces  have  been  found  through  the  pr 
vate  collections  of  the  editor.     He  has  had  throughout  th 
advantage  of  the  professional  skill  of  David  M.  Mattesoi 
whose  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  current  history  has  en 
abled  him  to  run  down  some  important  speeches  and  has 
greatly  aided  the  editor  in  the  selection  and  identificaton 
of  the  documents.     The  pieces,   long  and  short,   number 
ninety- two.    Ail  omissions  are  maicaied  by  asterisks  ('•'  -^  '^), 

i 


ii  INTRODUCTION 

The  reader  will  at  once  notice  that  this  book  includes  a 
variety  of  forms  of  communication  between  the  President 
and  the  People.  First  come  the  public  expositions  of  the 
President's  policy,  in  his  first  inaugural  address,  some  of  his 
annual  messages,  and  the  numerous  addresses  to  Congress 
which  have  been  a  feature  of  the  administration.  No  Presi- 
dent between  John  Adams  and  Wilson  approached  Con- 
gress in  any  other  way  than  through  the  written  messages 
sent  by  a  subordinate,  which  were  begun  by  President 
Thomas  Jefferson.  The  three  Presidents  who  immediately 
preceded  President  Wilson  had  the  habit  of  expressing  views 
intended  to  affect  Congress,  through  newspaper  interviews 
and  official  statements  given  out  at  the  White  House.  They 
often  succeeded  in  creating  public  opinion  that  reacted  upon 
Congress.  President  Wilson  has  accomplished  the  same  end 
by  the  more  dramatic  method  of  making  addresses  to  Con- 
gress  intended  for  the  people  at  large.  These  speeches  have 
usually  been  spread  widely  through  the  press;  most  of 
them  are  brief.  Each  of  them  enforces  one  or  at  most  a 
few  suggestions  and  appeals.  In  those  speeches  will  be 
found  clear  and  forceful  statements  of  the  President's  policy 
upon  such  topics  as  the  tariff,  trusts,  foreign  trade,  ship- 
building, submarine  warfare,  conditions  of  the  railroad  men, 
and  the  declaration  of  war.  Only  a  part  of  those  addresses 
can  be  brought  within  the  limits  of  a  modest  volimie  such 
as  this. 

Some  very  characteristic  short  pieces  in  this  volume  are 
the  letters  'and  telegrams,  sent  on  various  occasions,  such  as 
the  dedication  of  Cleveland's  birthplace,  the  seventieth  birth- 
day of  the  great  scientific  man,  Edison,  and  greetings  to  the 
French  and  Russian  governments. 

The  White  House  is  well  acquainted  wi'th  the  effect  of 
short,  snappy  statements  circulated  through  the  unofficial 
methods  of  the  press — such  are  the  political  bomb  on  the 
tariff  lobby  in  19 13;  the  announcement  on  the  expedition 
into  Mexico  in  191 6;  an  appeal  for  support  for  the  Red 
Cross  and  a  call  to  school  officers  in  191 7;  proclamations 
to  the  school  children  and  to  the  drafted  men  in  Septem- 
ber, 191 7;  and  the  taking  over  of  the  railroads. 

Another  group  is  made  up  of  letters  written  to  public 


INTRODUCTION  iii 

men,  especiaJly  Senators  and  Representatives,  making  clear 
the  President's  attitude  on  some  particular  question,  and 
thus  endeavoring  to  affect  the  minds  of  Congress.  Such 
are  the  letter  to  Senator  Culberson  on  a  pending  nomina- 
tion to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  191 6;  to  Representative 
Webb  on  censorship,  in  191 7;  to  Senator  Stone  on  foreign 
difficulties  in  19 16. 

More  than  half  of  this  volimie  is  chosen  from  the  numer- 
ous public  addresses  of  the  President  on  occasions  of  all 
sorts.  Like  his  immediate  predecessors,  he  has  taken  the 
ground  that  a  President  is  the  President  of  the  whole  people, 
and  ought  to  set  forth  his  policies  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  to  groups  of  every  kind.  Hence  such  addresses  as  that 
on  the  Union  soldier  and  the  Confederate  soldier  in  19 14; 
to  graduating  classes  of  the  Naval  and  Military  Academy; 
before  -the  American  Bar  A-ssociartion ;  at  a  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
celebration;  to  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Commercej 
to  the  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church;  to 
the  Associated  Press  meeting;  to  naituralized  citizens;  to  the 
Pan-American  Scientific  Congress;  to  the  Gridiron  Club;  to 
the  Convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor;  to  a 
Woman's  Suffrage  delegation.  These  addresses  set  forth  the 
difficulties  of  the  President,  often  point  the  moral  of  some 
desirable  proposition  or  action  then  pending,  and  always 
appeal  to  patriotic  sentiment. 

Among  the  most  important  documents  are  the  despatches 
to  Germany,  upon  the  reladon  of  the  United  States  to  the 
great  war.  These  are  usually  signed  by  the  Secretary  of 
State;  but  those  reproduced  in  this  volume  were  well  known 
at  the  time  to  proceed/  from  the  President's  pen.  Among 
them  are  several  despatches  on  the  submarine  and  Lusitania 
questions,  and  the  snappy  communications  of  October  and 
November,  19 18,  on  peace. 

The  year  and  a  half  since  war  broke  out  with  Germany 
has  called  out  so  many  striking  and  powerful  expressions 
from  the  President  that  nearly  half  of  the  ninety-two  num- 
bers have  been  taken  from  that  period.  For  several  years 
previous,  the  President  had  been  reflecting  and  speaking 
on  the  European  war,  the  neutral  duties  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  questio:::  ci  defence.     Upon  his  mind,  as 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

upon  i^e  mind  of  the  country  at  large,  the  necessity  of 
taking  a  part  in  the  war  grew  up  gradually,  though  from  the 
start  the  conviction  was  clear  that  the  United  States  must 
defend  itself  if  necessary.  Throu^out  191 6  the  speeches 
dwell  on  the  question  of  preparedness  and  the  general  situa- 
tion of  the  United  States  as  a  world  power;  then  come 
numerous  war  speeches,  on  world  duty  and  enforcing  world 
peace,  throughout  19 17  and  19 18. 

The  question  of  peace  is  tied  up  with  that  of  war.  It 
begins  to  come  to  the  front  in  the  President's  mind  in  a 
speech  of  May,  1916;  and  then  takes  form  in  a  succession 
of  despatches  stating  what  a  proper  peace  ought  to  bring 
to  mankind,  which  have  now  become  the  text  book  of  the 
AlHes,  and  therefore  are  quoted  nearly  in  full.  These  are 
the  despatches  of  December'  18,  1916;  January  22,  1917; 
August  27,  1917;  January  4,  1918;  January  8,  1918;  July 
4,  1918;  October  14,  1918;  and  November  11,  1918. 

This  outline  does  not  bring  out  all  the  main  topics  upon 
which  the  President  has  chosen  to  dwell,  but  it  shows  suf- 
ficiently the  range  and  spirit  of  these  utterances.  Consid- 
irations  of  space  have  made  it  necessary  to  omit  parts  of 
nany  addresses  which  were  meant  especially  for  the  audi- 
ence that  listened  to  them,  or  dealt  with  questions  which 
are  not  of  permanent  significance.  The  more  important 
papers  are  printed  substantially  in  full.  Some  of  the  short 
pieces  are  also  the  full  texts;  others  are  extracts  from  longer 
discourses.  The  purpose  has  been  to  make  the  volume  rep- 
resentative of  the  different  fields  of  presidential  energy  and 
at  the  same  time  to  furnish  an  insight  of  the  President's 
habits  of  speech  and  argument. 

Throughout,  there  is  a  high  standard  of  dignity,  of  cour- 
tesy when  expressing  a  rebuke;  of  personal  conviction.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  President  has  been  a  hard  hitter  against 
men  whom  he  held  to  be  doing  less  than  their  duty.  He 
has  the  great  man's  capacity  of  learning  something  from 
his  own  experiences,  and  on  many  public  questions,  such 
as  neutrality,  preparedness,  Latin-American  questions,  world 
trade,  and  world  peace,  the  later  utterances  show  a  decided 
advance  in,  tone  and  intensity  over  the  earlier.  President 
Wilson  is  sometimes  a  sermonizer,  and  occasionally  ex- 


INTRODUCTION  v 

presses  hmself  as  the  party  leader,  as  in  the  Jackson  Day- 
speech  of  January,  19 15.  The  usual  attitude  is  that  of  an 
elder  brother  of  the  nation,  taking  the  people  into  counsel 
with  him. 

The  practical  uses  of  this  volume  are  self-evident.  It 
may  be  used  as  a  hodk  to  read,  for  it  is  phrased  in  high 
literary  tand  forensic  style;  it  is  a  record  of  the  policies  of  a 
President  of  the  United  States;  it  is  a  summary  of  great 
historical  questions  and  discussions.  The  book  may  also  be 
used  by  school  and  college  classes,  as  a  source  book,  as  an 
adjunct  to  the  study  of  government  and  international  rela- 
tions, or  as  a  speaker;  for  many  of  the  addresses  are  ex- 
pressed in  a  stirring  and  concentrated  form  and  come  up 
to  a  climax.  The  book  is  also  a  contribution  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  character  and  action  of  the  head  of  the 
nation  in  a  great  crisis. 

The  principles  of  these  papers  were  intended  to  be  a 
guide  to  the  nation  in  its  internal  development  and  in  its 
relations  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  nation  has  grown 
urider  the  tremendous  struggle  of  the  great  war;  and  its 
policies,  its  aims,  its  influences  upon  other  nations  have  grown 
accordingly.  The  President  has  grown,  too,  and  some  of 
the  remedies  for  political  ills  and  international  woes,  sug- 
gested in  earlier  speeches,  have  been  replaced  by  later  views 
and  larger  remedies.  The  speeches  of  the  President  at  such 
a  crisis  are  a  part  of  the  life  and  expression  of  the  people, 
and  should  be  read  and  considered  by  thinking  Americans. 

Albert  Bushnell  Hart. 


ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT 
WOODROW  WILSON 

YEAR    1913 

I.    A  NEW  PRESIDENT'S  PRINCIPLES 

(March  4,  1913) 

First  Inaugural  Address 

There  has  been  a  change  of  government.  It  began  two 
years  ago,  when  the  House  of  Representatives  became  Demo- 
cratic by  a  decisive  majority.  It  has  now  been  completed. 
The  Senate  about  to  assemble  will  also  be  Democratic. 
The  offices  of  President  and  Vice  President  have  been  put 
into  the  hands  of  Democrats.  What  does  the  change  mean? 
That  is  the  question  that  is  uppermost  in  our  minds  to-day. 
That  is  the  question  I  am  going  to  try  to  answer,  in  order, 
if  I  may,  to  interpret  the  occasion. 

It  means  much  more  than  the  mere  success  of  a  party. 
The  success  of  a  party  means  little  except  when  the  Nation 
is  using  that  party  for  a  large  and  definite  purpose.  No 
one  can  mistake  the  purpose  for  which  the  Nation  no\ 
seeks  to  use  the  Democratic  party.  It  seeks  to  use  it  tc 
interpret  a  change  in  its  own  plans  and  point  of  view. 
Some  old  things  with  which  we  had  grown  familiar,  and 
which  had  begun  to  creep  into  the  very  habit  of  our  thought 
and  of  our  lives,  have  altered  their  aspect  as  we  have  lat- 
terly looked  critically  upon  them,  with  fresh,  awakened  eyes; 
have  dropped  their  disguises  and  shown  themselves  alien  and 
sinister.  Some  new  things,  as  we  look  frankly  upon  them, 
willing  to  comprehend  their  real  character,  have  come  to 
assume  the  aspect  of  things  long  believed  in  and  familiar, 

I 


2  ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1913 

stuff  of  our  own  convictions.  We  have  been  refreshed  by  a 
new  insight  into  our  own  life. 

We  see  that  in  many  things  life  is  very  great.  It  is 
incomparably  great  in  its  material  aspects,  in  its  body  of 
wealth,  in  the  diversity  and  sweep  of  its  energy,  in  the 
industries  which  have  been  conceived  and  built  up  by  the 
genius  of  individual  men  and  the  limitless  enterprise  of 
groups  of  men.  It  is  great,  also,  very  great,  in  its  moral 
force.  Nowhere  else  in  the  world  have  noble  men  and 
women  exhibited  in  more  striking  forms  the  beauty  and  the 
energy  of  sympathy  and  helpfulness  and  counsel  in  their 
efforts  to  rectify  wrong,  alleviate  suffering,  and  set  the  weak 
in  the  way  of  strength  and  hope.  We  have  built  up,  more- 
over, a  great  system  of  government,  which  has  stood  through 
a  long  age  as  in  many  respects  a  model  for  those  who  seek 
to  set  liberty  upon  foundations  that  will  endure  against 
fortuitous  change,  against  storm  and  accident.  Our  life  con- 
tains every  great  thing,  and  contains  it  m  rich  abundance. 

But  the  evil  has  come  with  the  good,  and  much  fine  gold 
has  been  corroded.  With  riches  has  come  inexcusable  waste. 
We  have  squandered  a  great  part  of  what  we  might  have 
used,  and  have  not  stopped  to  conserve  the  exceeding 
bounty  of  nature,  without  which  our  genius  for  enterprise 
would  have  been  worthless  and  impotent,  scorning  to  be 
careful,  shamefully  prodigal  as  well  as  admirably  efficient. 
We  have  been  proud  of  our  industrial  achievements,  but  we 
have  not  hitherto  stopped  thoughtfully  enough  to  count  the 
human  cost,  the  cost  of  lives  snuffed  out,  of  energies  over- 
taxed and  broken,  the  fearful  physical  and  spiritual  cost  to 
the  men  and  women  and  children  upon  whom  the  dead 
weight  and  burden  of  it  ali  has  fallen  pitilessly  the  years 
through.  The  groans  and  agony  of  it  all  had  not  yet  reached 
our  ears,  the  solemn,  moving  undertone  of  our  life,  coming 
up  out  of  the  mines  and  factories  and  out  of  every  home 
where  the  struggle  had  its  intimate  and  familiar  seat.  With 
the  great  Government  went  many  deep  secret  things  which 
we  too  long  delayed  to  look  into  and  scrutinize  with  candid, 
fearless  eyes.  The  great  Government  we  loved  has  too 
often  been  made  use  of  for  private  and  selfish  purposes,  and 
those  who  used  it  had  forgotten  the  people. 


Mar.  4]      A  NEW  PRESIDENT'S  PRINCIPLES  3 

At  last  a  vision  has  been  vouchsafed  us  of  our  life  as  a 
whole.  We  see  the  bad  ^ith  the  good,  the  debased  and 
decadent  with  the  sound  and  vital.  With  this  vision  we 
approach  nev/  affairs.  Our  duty  is  to  cleanse,  to  reconsider, 
to  restore,  to  correct  the  evil  without  impairing  the  good, 
to  purify  and  humanize  every  process  of  our  common  life 
without  weakening  or  sentimentalizing  it.  There  has  been 
something  crude  and  heartless  and  unfeeling  in  our  haste 
to  succeed  and  be  great.  Our  thought  has  been  "Let  every 
man  look  out  for  himself,  let  every  generation  look  out  for 
itself,"  while  we  reared  giant  machinery  which  made  it  im- 
possible that  any  but  those  who  stood  at  the  levers  of  control 
should  have  a  chance  to  look  out  for  themselves.  We  had 
not  forgotten  our  morals.  We  remembered  well  enough  that 
we  had  set  up  a  policy  which  was  meant  to  serve  the  hum- 
blest as  well  as  the  most  powerful,  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
standards  of  justice  and  fair  play,  and  remembered  it  with 
pride.  But  we  were  very  heedless  and  in  a  hurry  to  be 
great. 

We  have  come  now  to  the  sober  second  thought.  The 
scales  of  heedlessness  have  fallen  from  our  eyes.  We  have 
made  up  our  minds  to  square  every  process  of  our  national 
life  again  with  the  standards  we  so  proudly  set  up  at  the 
beginning  and  have  always  carried  at  our  hearts.  Our 
work  is  a  work  of  restoration. 

We  have  itemized  with  some  degree  of  particularity  the 
things  that  ought  to  be  altered  and  here  are  some  of  the 
chief  items:  A  tariff  which  cuts  us  off  from  our  proper 
part  in  the  commerce  of  the  world,  violates  the  just  prin- 
ciples of  taxation,  and  makes  the  Government  a  facile  in- 
strument in  the  hands  of  private  interests;  a  banking  and 
currency  system  based  upon  the  necessity  of  the  Government 
to  sell  its  bonds  fifty  years  ago  and  perfectly  adapted  to 
concentrating  cash  and  restricting  credits;  an  industrial 
system  which,  take  it  on  all  its  sides,  financial  as  well  as 
administrative,  holds  capital  in  leading  strings,  restricts  the 
liberties  and  limits  the  opportunities  of  labor,  and  exploits 
without  renewing  or  conserving  the  natural  resources  of 
the  country;  a  body  of  agricultural  activities  never  yet 
given  the  efficiency  of  great  business  undertakings  or  sensed 


4  ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1913 

as  it  should  be  through  the  instrumentality  of  science  taken 
directly  to  the  farm,  or  afforded  the  facilities  of  credit  best 
suited  to  its  practical  needs;  watercourses  undeveloped,  waste 
{daces  unreclaimed,  forests  imtended,  fast  disappearing  with- 
out plan  or  prospect  of  renewal,  imregarded  waste  heaps  at 
every  mine.  We  have  studied  as  perhaps  no  other  nation 
has  the  most  effective  means  of  production,  but  we  have  not 
studied  cost  or  economy  as  we  should  either  as  organizers  of 
industry,  as  statesmen,  or  as  individuals. 

Nor  have  we  studied  and  perfected  the  means  by  which 
government  may  be  put  at  the  service  of  humanity,  in  safe- 
guarding the  health  of  the  Nation,  the  health  of  its  men 
and  its  women  and  its  children,  as  well  as  their  rights  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  This  is  no  sentimental  duty.  The 
firm  basis  of  government  is  justice,  not  pity.  These  are 
matters  of  justice.  There  can  be  no  equality  or  opportunity, 
the  first  essential  of  justice  in  the  body  politic,  if  men  and 
women  and  children  be  not  shielded  in  their  lives,  their  very 
vitality,  from  the  consequences  of  great  industrial  and  social 
processes  which  they  can  not  alter,  control,  or  singly  cope 
with.  Society  must  see  to  it  that  it  does  not  itself  crush  or 
weaken  or  damage  its  own  constituent  parts.  The  first  duty 
of  law  is  to  keep  sound  the  society  it  serves.  Sanitary  laws, 
pure  food  laws,  and  laws  determining  conditions  of  labor 
which  individuals  are  powerless  to  determine  for  themselves 
are  intimate  parts  of  the  very  business  of  justice  and  legal 
efficiency. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  we  ought  to  do,  and  not  leave 
the  others  undone,  the  old-fashioned,  never-to-be~neglected, 
fundamental  safeguarding  of  property  and  of  individual  right. 
This  is  the  high  enterprise  of  the  new  day:  To  lift  every- 
thing that  concerns  our  life  as  a  Nation  to  the  light  that 
shines  from  the  hearthfire  of  every  man's  conscience  and 
vision  of  the  right.  It  is  inconceivable  that  we  should  do 
this  as  partisans;  it  is  inconceivable  we  should  do  it  in 
ignorance  of  the  facts  as  they  are  or  in  blind  haste.  We 
shall  restore,  not  destroy.  We  shall  deal  with  our  economic 
system  as  it  is  and  as  it  may  be  modified,  not  as  it  might 
be  if  we  had  a  clean  sheet  of  paper  to  write  upon;  and 
step  by  step  we  shall  make  it  what  it  should  be,  in  the  spirit 


Mar.  4]     A  NEW  PRESIDENT'S  PRINCIPLES  5 

of  those  who  question  their  own  wisdom  and  seek  counsel 
and  knowledge,  not  shallow  self-satisfaction  or  the  excite- 
ment of  excursions  whither  they  can  not  tell.  Justice,  and 
only  justice,  shall  always  be  our  motto. 

And  yet  it  will  be  no  cool  process  of  mere  science.  The 
Nation  has  been  deeply  stirred,  stirred  by  a  solemn  passion, 
stirred  by  the  knowledge  of  wrong,  ot  ideals  lost,  of  govern- 
ment too  often  debauched  and  made  an  instrument  of  evil. 
The  feelings  with  which  we  face  this  new  age  of  right  and 
opportunity  sweep  across  our  heartstrings  like  some  air  out 
of  God's  own  presence,  where  justice  and  mercy  are  recon- 
ciled and  the  judge  and  the  brother  are  one.  We  know  our 
task  to  be  no  mere  task  of  politics,  but  a  task  which  shall 
search  us  through  and  through,  whether  we  be  able  to 
understand  our  time  and  the  need  of  our  people,  whether  we 
be  indeed  their  spokesmen  and  interpreters,  whether  we  have 
the  pure  heart  to  comprehend  and  the  rectified  will  to  choose 
our  high  course  of  action. 

This  is  not  a  day  of  triumph;  it  is  a  day  of  dedication. 
Here  muster,  not  the  forces  of  party,  but  the  forces  of 
humanity.  Men's  hearts  wait  upon  us;  men's  lives  hang  in 
the  balance;  men's  hopes  call  upon  us  to  say  what  we  will 
do.  Who  shall  live  up  to  the  great  trust?  Who  dares  fail 
to  try?  I  summon  all  honest  men,  all  patriotic,  all  forward- 
looking  men,  to  my  side.  God  helping  me,  I  will  not  fail 
them,  if  they  will  but  counsel  and  sustain  me! 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


2.     GROVER  CLEVELAND 

(March  13,  1913) 

Letter  on  Dedication  of  Cleveland's  Birthplace 

I  wish  with  all  my  heart  that  it  were  possible,  consistently^ 
with  the  performance  of  my  new  duties  here,  to  be  present 
on  the  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  birth- 
place to  the  public  as  a  memorial,  but  inasmuch  as  I  am 
bound  here  by  obligations  I  cannot  escape,  I  must  content 


6  ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1913 

myself  with  requesting  that  you  will  read  this  brief  message 
to  those  assembled. 

From  the  first,  I  have  been  deeply  interested  in  the  plan 
to  acquire  Mr.  Cleveland's  birthplace  for  the  public,  and 
this  consummation  of  the  plan  seems  to  me  of  great  sig- 
nificance and  delightful  omen.  I  think  it  must  be  evident 
to  everyone  who  has  given  attention  to  the  matter  that  the 
feeling  of  the  country — the  feeling  alike  of  admiration  and 
affection — towards  Mr.  Cleveland  grows  warmer  and  warmer 
as  the  years  pass  by.  As  we  see  him  in  just  perspective,  he 
looms  up  as  one  of  the  most  notable  figures  in  our  long 
line  of  Presidents.  I  send  these  lines,  therefore,  as  a  sincere 
tribute  of  respect  and  admiration. 

May  I  not  add  also  my  hope  that  the  administration  of 
the  property  may  be  productive  of  pleasure  and  stimulation 
to  those  engaged  in  it  and  a  real  profit  to  the  community 
at  large. 

Boston  Transcript,  March  13,  19 13. 


3.     REFORM  OF  THE  TARIFF 

(April  8,  1913) 

Address  to  Congress 

*  *  *  I  have  called  the  Congress  together  in  extraordi- 
nary session  because  a  duty  was  laid  upon  the  party  now  in 
power  at  the  recent  elections  which  it  ought  to  perform 
promptly,  in  order  that  the  burden  carried  by  the  people 
under  existing  law  may  be  lightened  as  soon  as  possible 
and  in  order,  also,  that  the  business  interests  of  the  country 
may  not  be  kept  too  long  in  suspense  as  to  what  the  fiscal 
changes  are  to  be  to  which  they  will  be  required  to  adjust 
themselves.  It  is  clear  to  the  whole  country  that  the  tariff 
duties  must  be  altered.  They  must  be  changed  to  meet  the 
radical  alteration  in  the  conditions  of  our  economic  life 
which  the  country  has  witnessed  within  the  last  generation. 
While  the  whole  face  and  method  of  our  industrial  and 
commercial  life  was  being  changed  beyond  recognition  the 


Apr.  8]  REFORM  OF  THE  TARIFF  7 

tariff  schedules  have  remained  what  they  were  before  the 
change  began,  or  have  moved  in  the  direction  they  were 
given  when  no  large  circumstance  of  our  industrial  develop- 
ment was  what  it  is  to-day.  Our  task  is  to  square  them 
with  the  actual  facts.  The  sooner  that  is  done  the  sooner 
we  shall  escape  from  suffering  from  the  facts  and  the  sooner 
our  men  of  business  will  be  free  to  thrive  by  the  law  of 
nature  (the  nature  of  free  business)  instead  of  by  the  law  of 
legislation  and  artificial  arrangement. 

We  have  seen  tariff  legislation  wander  very  far  afield  in 
our  day — ^very  far  indeed  from  the  field  in  which  our  pros- 
perity might  have  had  a  normal  growth  and  stimulation.  No 
one  who  looks  the  facts  squarely  in  the  face  or  knows  any- 
thing that  lies  beneath  the  surface  of  action  can  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  principles  upon  which  recent  tariff  legislation  has 
been  based.  We  long  ago  passed  beyond  the  modest  notion 
of  "protecting"  the  industries  of  the  country  and  moved 
boldly  forward  to  the  idea  that  they  were  entitled  to  the 
direct  patronage  of  the  Government.  For  a  long  time — a 
time  so  long  that  the  men  now  active  in  public  policy  hardly 
remember  the  conditions  that  preceded  it — we  have  sought 
in  our  tariff  schedules  to  give  each  group  of  manufacturers 
or  producers  what  they  themselves  thought  that  they  needed 
in  order  to  maintain  a  practically  exclusive  market  as 
against  the  rest  of  the  world.  Consciously  or  unconsciously, 
we  have  built  up  a  set  of  privileges  and  exemptions  from 
competition  behind  which  it  was  easy  by  any,  even  the 
crudest,  forms  of  combination  to  organize  monopoly;  until 
at  last  nothing  is  normal,  nothing  is  obliged  to  stand  the 
tests  of  efficiency  and  economy,  in  our  world  of  big  busi- 
ness, but  everything  thrives  by  concerted  arrangement. 
Only  new  principles  of  action  will  save  us  from  a  final 
hard  crystallization  of  monopoly  and  a  complete  loss  of  the 
influences  that  quicken  enterprise  and  keep  independent 
energy  alive. 

It  is  plain  what  those  principles  must  be.  We  must 
abolish  everything  that  bears  even  the  semblance  of  privi- 
lege or  of  any  kind  of  artificial  advantage,  and  put  our 
business  men  and  producers  under  the  stimulation  of  a 
constant  necessity   to  be  efficient,   economical,   and  enter- 


8  ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 13 

prising,  masters  of  competitive  supremacy,  better  workers 
and  merchants  than  any  in  the  world.  Aside  from  the 
duties  laid  upon  articles  which  we  do  not,  and  probably  can 
not,  produce,  therefore,  and  the  duties  laid  upon  luxuries 
and  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  revenues  they  yield,  the 
object  of  the  tariff  duties  henceforth  laid  must  be  effective 
competition,  the  whetting  of  American  wits  by  contest  with 
the  wits  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 

It  would  be  unwise  to  move  toward  this  end  headlong, 
wath  reckless  haste,  or  with  strokes  that  cut  at  the  very- 
roots  of  what  has  grown  up  amongst  us  by  long  process  and 
at  our  own  invitation.  It  does  not  alter  a  thing  to  upset 
it  and  break  it  and  deprive  it  of  a  chance  to  change.  It 
destroys  it.  We  must  make  changes  in  our  fiscal  laws,  in 
our  fiscal  S3^stem,  whose  object  is  development,  a  more  free 
and  wholesome  development,  not  revolution  or  upset  or  con- 
fusion. We  must  build  up  trade,  especially  foreign  trade. 
We  need  the  outlet  and  the  enlarged  field  of  energy  more 
than  we  ever  did  before.  We  must  build  up  industry  as 
well,  and  must  adopt  freedom  in  the  place  of  artificial  stimu- 
lation only  so  far  as  it  will  build,  not  pull  down.  In  dealing 
with  the  tariff  the  method  by  which  this  may  be  done  will 
be  a  matter  of  judgment,  exercised  item  by  item.  To  some 
not  accustomed  to  the  excitements  and  responsibilities  of 
greater  freedom  our  methods  may  in  some  respects  and  at 
some  points  seem  heroic,  but  remedies  may  be  heroic  and 
yet  be  remedies.  It  is  our  business  to  make  sure  that  they 
are  genuine  remedies.  Our  object  is  clear.  If  our  motive  is 
above  just  challenge  and  only  an  occasional  error  of  judg- 
ment is  chargeable  against  us,  we  shall  be  fortunate.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


May  26]  THE  TARIFF  LOBBY 


4.    THE  TARIFF  LOBBY 

(May  26,  1913) 
Statement  Given  to  the  Press 

I  think  that  the  public  ought  to  know  the  extraordinary 
exertions  being  made  by  the  lobby  in  Washington  to  gain 
recognition  for  certain  alterations  of  the  Tariff  bill.  Wash- 
ington has  seldom  seen  so  numerous,  so  industrious  or  so 
insidious  a  lobby.  The  newspapers  are  being  filled  with  paid 
advertisements  calculated  to  mislead  the  judgment  of  public 
men  not  only,  but  also  the  public  opinion  of  the  country 
itself.  There  is  every  evidence  that  money  without  limit  is 
being  spent  to  sustain  this  lobby  and  to  create  an  appear- 
ance of  a  pressure  of  opinion  antagonistic  to  some  of  the 
chief  items  of  the  Tariff  bill. 

It  is  of  serious  interest  to  the  country  that  the  people  at 
large  should  have  no  lobby  and  be  voiceless  in  these  matters, 
while  great  bodies  of  astute  men  seek  to  create  an  artificial 
opinion  and  to  overcome  the  interests  of  the  public  for  their 
private  profit.  It  is  thoroughly  worth  the  while  of  the 
people  of  this  country  to  take  knowledge  of  this  matter. 
Only  public  opinion  can  check  and  destroy  it. 

The  Government  in  all  its  branches  ought  to  be  relieved 
from  this  intolerable  burden  and  this  constant  interruption 
to  the  calm  progress  of  debate.  I  know  that  in  this  T  am 
speaking  for  the  members  of  the  two  houses,  who  would 
rejoice  as  much  as  I  would  to  be  released  from  this  unbear- 
able situation. 

Newspaper  Press. 


10        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 13 
5.    THE  NATION  AND  THE  SOLDIER 

(July  4,  1913) 
Address  at  Gettysburg 

I  need  not  tell  you  what  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg  meant. 
These  gallant  men  in  blue  and  gray  sit  all  about  us  here. 
Many  of  them  met  upon  this  ground  in  grim  and  deadly 
struggle.  Upon  these  famous  fields  and  hillsides  their  com- 
rades died  about  them.  In  their  presence  it  were  an  imper- 
tinence to  discourse  upon  how  the  battle  went,  how  it  ended, 
what  it  signified!  But  50  years  have  gone  by  since  then, 
and  I  crave  the  privilege  of  speaking  to  you  for  a  few 
minutes  of  what  those  50  years  have  meant. 

What  have  they  meant?  They  have  meant  peace  and 
union  and  vigor,  and  the  maturity  and  might  of  a  great 
nation.  How  wholesome  and  healing  the  peace  has  been! 
We  have  found  one  another  again  as  brothers  and  com- 
rades in  arms,  enemies  no  longer,  generous  friends  rather, 
our  battles  long  past,  the  quarrel  forgotten — except  that  we 
shall  not  forget  the  splendid  valor,  the  manly  devotion  of 
the  men  then  arrayed  against  one  another,  now  grasping 
hands  and  smiling  into  each  other's  eyes.  How  complete 
the  union  has  become  and  how  dear  to  all  of  us,  how 
unquestioned,  how  benign  and  majestic,  as  State  after  State 
has  been  added  to  this  our  great  family  of  free  men!  How 
handsome  the  vigor,  the  maturity,  the  might  of  the  great 
Nation  we  love  with  undivided  hearts;  how  full  of  large 
and  confident  promise  that  a  life  will  be  wrought  out  that 
will  cro\\Ti  its  strength  with  gracious  justice  and  with  a 
happy  welfare  that  will  touch  all  alike  with  deep  content- 
ment! We  are  debtors  to  those  50  crowded  years;  they 
have  made  us  heirs  to  a  mighty  heritage. 

But  do  we  deem  the  Nation  complete  and  finished? 
These  venerable  men  crowding  here  to  this  famous  field 
have  set  us  a  great  example  of  devotion  and  utter  sacrifice. 
They  were  willing  to  die  that  the  p)eople  might  live.  But 
their  task  is  done.  Their  day  is  turned  into  evening.  They 
look  to  us  to  perfect  what  they  established.    Their  work  is 


July  4]         THE  NATION  AND  THE  SOLDIER  11 

handed  on  to  us,  to  be  done  in  another  way,  but  not  in 
another  spirit.  Our  day  is  not  over;  it  is  upon  us  in  full 
tide. 

Have  affairs  paused?  Does  the  Nation  stand  still?  Is 
what  the  50  years  have  wrought  since  those  days  of  battle 
finished,  rounded  out,  and  completed?  Here  is  a  great 
people,  great  with  every  force  that  has  ever  beaten  in  the 
lifeblood  of  mankind.  And  it  is  secure.  There  is  no  one 
within  its  borders,  there  is  no  power  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth,  to  make  it  afraid.  But  has  it  yet  squared  itself 
with  its  own  great  standards  set  up  at  its  birth,  when  it 
made  that  first  noble,  naive  appeal  to  the  moral  judgment 
of  mankind  to  take  notice  that  a  government  had  now  at 
last  been  established  which  was  to  serve  men,  not  masters? 
It  is  secure  in  everything  except  the  satisfaction  that  its  life 
is  right,  adjusted  to  the  uttermost  to  the  standards  of  right- 
eousness and  humanity.  The  days  of  sacrifice  and  cleansing 
are  not  closed.  We  have  harder  things  to  do  than  were 
done  in  the  heroic  days  of  war,  because  harder  to  see  clearly, 
requiring  more  vision,  more  calm  balance  of  judgment,  a 
more  candid  searching  of  the  very  springs  of  right. 

Look  around  you  upon  the  field  of  Gettysburg!  Picture 
the  array,  the  fierce  heats  and  agony  of  battle,  column  hurled 
against  column,  battery  bellowing  to  battery!  Valor?  Yes! 
Greater  no  man  shall  see  in  war;  and  self-sacrifice,  and  loss 
to  the  uttermost;  the  high  recklessness  of  exalted  devotion 
which  does  not  count  the  cost.  We  are  made  by  these  'tragic, 
epic  things  to  know  what  it  costs  to  make  a  nation — the 
blood  and  sacrifice  of  multitudes  of  unknown  men  lifted  to  a 
great  stature  in  the  view  of  all  generations  by  knowing  no 
limit  to  their  manly  willingness  to  serve.  In  armies  thus 
marshaled  from  the  ranks  of  free  men  you  will  see,  as  it  were, 
a  nation  embattled,  the  leaders  and  the  led,  and  may  know, 
if  you  will,  how  little  except  in  foiTn  its  action  differs  in 
days  of  peace  from  its  action  in  days  of  war. 

May  we  break  camp  now  and  be  at  ease?  Are  the  forces 
that  fight  for  the  Naton  dispersed,  disbanded,  gone  to  their 
homes  forgetful  of  the  common  cause?  Are  our  forces  dis- 
organized, without  constituted  leaders  and  the  might  of  men 
consciously  united  because  we  contend,  not  with  armies,  but 


12        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 13 

with  principalities  and  powers  and  wickedness  in  high 
places?  Are  we  content  to  lie  still?  Does  our  iinion  mean 
sympathy,  our  peace  contentment,  our  vigor  right  action, 
our  maturity  self-comprehension  and  a  clear  confidence  in 
choosing  what  we  shall  do?  War  fitted  us  for  action,  and 
action  never  ceases. 

I  have  been  chosen  the  leader  of  the  Nation.  I  can  not 
justify  the  choice  by  any  qualities  of  my  own,  but  so  it  has 
come  about,  and  here  I  stand.  Whom  do  I  command? 
The  ghostly  hosts  who  fought  upon  these  battle  fields  long 
ago  and  are  gone?  These  gallant  gentlemen  stricken  in 
years  whose  fighting  days  are  over,  their  glory  won?  What 
are  the  orders  for  them,  and  who  rallies  them?  I  have  in 
my  mind  another  host,  whom  these  set  free  of  civil  strife  in 
order  that  they  might  work  out  in  days  of  peace  and  settled 
order  the  life  of  a  great  Nation.  That  host  is  the  people 
themselves,  the  great  and  the  small,  without  class  or  dif- 
ference of  kind  or  race  or  origin;  and  undivided  in  interest, 
if  we  have  but  the  vision  to  guide  and  direct  them  and  order 
their  lives  aright  in  what  we  do.  Our  constitutions  are  their 
articles  of  enlistment.  The  orders  of  the  day  are  the  laws 
upon  our  statute  books.  What  we  strive  for  is  their  freedom, 
their  right  to  lift  themselves  from  day  to  day  and  behold  the 
things  they  have  hoped  for,  and  so  make  way  for  still  better 
days  for  those  whom  they  love  w'ho  are  to  come  after  them. 
The  recruits  are  the  little  children  crowding  in.  The  quar- 
termaster's stores  are  in  the  mines  and  forests  and  fields, 
in  the  shops  and  factories.  Every  day  something  must  be 
done  to  push  the  campaign  forward;  and  it  must  be  done 
by  plan  and  with  an  eye  to  some  great  destiny. 

How  shall  we  hold  such  thoughts  in  our  hearts  and  not 
be  moved?  I  would  not  have  you  live  even  to-day  wholly 
in  the  past,  but  would  vnsh.  to  stand  with  you  in  the  light 
that  streams  upon  us  now  out  of  that  great  day  gone  by. 
Here  is  the  nation  God  has  builded  by  our  hands.  What 
shall  we  do  with  it?  Who  stands  ready  to  act  again  and 
always  in  the  spirit  of  this  day  of  reunion  and  hope  and 
patriotic  fervor?  The  day  of  our  country's  life  has  but 
broadened  into  morning.     Do  not  put  uniforms  by.     Put 


July  4]        THE  NATION  AND  THE  SOLDIER  13 

the  harness  of  the  present  on.  Lift  your  eyes  to  the  great 
tracts  of  life  yet  to  be  conquered  in  the  interest  of  righteous 
peace,  of  that  prosperity  which  lies  in  a  people's  hearts  and 
outlasts  all  wars  and  errors  of  men.  Come,  let  us  be  com- 
rades and  soldiers  yet  to  serve  our  fellow  men  in  quiet 
counsel,  when  the  blare  of  trumpets  is  neither  heard  nor 
heeded  and  where  the  things  are  done  which  make  blessed 
the  nations  of  the  world  in  peace  and  righteousness  and  love. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


6.    TO  THE  CITIZENS  OF  THE  PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS 

(October  6,  19 13) 

Message  Sent  by  Governor-General  Harrison 

We  regard  ourselves  as  trustees  acting  not  for  the  advan- 
tage of  the  United  States  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
of  the  Philip>pine  Islands.  Every  step  we  take  will  be  taken 
with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  independence  of  the  islands  and 
as  a  preparation  for  that  independence;  and  we  hope  to 
move  toward  that  end  as  rapidly  as  the  safety  and  the  per- 
manent interests  of  the  islands  will  permit.  After  each  step 
taken  experience  will  guide  us  to  the  next. 

The  Administration  will  take  one  step  at  once.  It  will  give 
to  the  native  citizens  of  the  islands  a  majority  in  the  ap- 
pointive commission  and  thus  in  the  Upper  as  well  as  in  the 
Lower  House  of  the  Legislature  a  majority  representation  will 
be  secured  to  them.  It  will  do  this  in  the  confident  hope  and 
expectation  that  immediate  proof  will  thereby  be  given,  in 
the  action  of  the  commission  under  the  new  arrangement,  of 
the  political  capacity  of  those  native  citizens  who  have  al' 
ready  come  forward  to  represent  and  to  lead  their  people  in 
affairs. 

New  York  Times,  Oct.  7,  19 13. 


14        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 13 
7.    IDEALS  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

(October  25,  19 13) 
Address  at  Swarthmore  College 

*  *  *  No  one  can  stand  in  the  presence  of  a  gathering 
like  this,  on  a  day  suggesting  the  memories  which  this  day 
suggests,  without  asking  himself  what  a  college  is  for.  There 
have  been  times  when  I  have  suspected  that  certain  under- 
graduates did  not  know.  I  remember  that  in  days  of  dis- 
couragement as  a  teacher  I  gratefully  recalled  the  sympathy 
of  a  friend  of  mine  in  the  Yale  faculty,  who  said  that  after 
20  years  of  teaching  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
human  mind  had  infinite  resources  for  resisting  the  intro- 
duction of  knowledge.  Yet  I  have  my  serious  doubts  as  to 
whether  the  main  object  of  a  college  is  the  introduction  of 
knowledge.  It  may  be  the  transmission  of  knowledge 
through  the  human  system,  but  not  much  of  it  sticks.  Its 
introduction  is  temporary;  it  is  for  the  discipline  of  the 
hour.  Most  of  what  a  man  learns  in  college  he  assiduously 
forgets  afterwards.  Not  because  he  purp)oses  to  forget  it, 
but  because  the  crowding  events  of  the  days  that  follow 
seem  somehow  to  eliminate  it. 

What  a  man  ought  never  to  forget  with  regard  to  a  college 
is  that  it  is  a  nursery  of  principle  and  of  honor.  I  can  not 
help  thinking  of  William  Penn  as  a  sort  of  spiritual  knight 
who  went  out  upon  his  adventures  to  carry  the  torch  that 
had  been  put  in  his  hands,  so  that  other  men  might  have 
'the  path  illuminated  for  them  which  led  to  justice  and  to 
liberty.  I  can  not  admit  that  a  man  establishes  his  right 
to  call  himself  a  college  graduate  by  showing  me  his  diploma. 
The  only  way  he  can  prove  it  is  by  showing  that  his  eyes 
are  lifted  to  some  horizon  which  other  men  less  instructed 
than  he  have  not  been  privileged  to  see.  Unless  he  carries 
freight  of  the  spirit  he  has  not  been  bred  where  spirits  are 
bred.  *  *  * 

The  spirit  of  Penn  will  not  be  stayed.  You  can  not  set 
limits  to  such  knightly  adventurers.     After  their  own  day 


Oct  25]  IDEALS  OF  COLLEGE  15 

is  gone  their  spirits  stalk  the  world,  carrying  inspiration 
everywhere  that  they  go  and  reminding  men  of  the  lineage, 
the  fine  lineage,  of  those  who  have  sought  justice  and  right. 
It  is  no  small  matter,  therefore,  for  a  college  to  have  as  its 
patron  saint  a  man  who  went  out  upon  such  a  conquest. 
WTiat  I  would  like  to  ask  you  young  people  to-day  is:  How 
many  of  you  have  devoted  yourselves  to  the  like  adventure? 
How  many  of  you  will  volunteer  to  carry  these  spiritual 
messages  of  liberty  to  the  world?  How  many  of  you  will 
forego  anything  except  your  allegiance  to  that  which  is  just 
and  that  which  is  right?  We  die  but  once,  and  we  die  with- 
out distinction  if  we  are  not  -willing  to  die  the  death  of  sac- 
rifice. Do  you  covet  honor?  You  will  never  get  it  by 
serving  yourself.  Do  you  covet  distinction?  You  will  get 
it  only  as  the  servant  of  mankind.  Do  not  forget,  then,  as 
you  walk  these  classic  places,  why  you  are  here.  You  are 
not  here  merely  to  prepare  to  make  a  living.  You  are  here 
in  order  to  enable  the  world  to  live  more  amply,  with  greater 
vision,  with  a  finer  spirit  of  hope  and  achievement.  You 
are  here  to  enrich  the  world,  and  you  impoverish  yourself  if 
you  forget  the  errand. 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  great  difference  between 
the  ideals  of  the  college  and  the  ideals  of  the  State.  Can 
you  not  translate  the  one  into  the  other?  Men  have  not 
had  to  come  to  college,  let  me  remind  you,  to  quaff  the 
foimtains  of  this  inspiration.  You  are  merely  more  privi- 
leged than  they.  Men  out  of  every  walk  of  life,  men  with- 
out advantages  of  any  kind,  have  seen  the  vision,  and  you, 
with  it  written  large  upon  every  page  of  your  studies,  are  the 
more  blind  if  you  do  not  see  it  when  it  is  pointed  out.  You 
could  not  be  forgiven  for  overlooking  it.  They  might  have 
been.  But  they  did  not  await  instruction.  They  simply 
drew  the  breath  of  life  into  their  lungs,  felt  the  aspirations 
that  must  come  to  every  human  soul,  looked  out  upon  their 
brothers,  and  felt  their  pulses  beat  as  their  fellows'  beat,  and 
then  sought  by  counsel  and  action  to  move  forward  to  com- 
mon ends  that  would  be  crowned  with  honor  and  achieve- 
ment. This  is  the  only  glory  of  America.  Let  every 
generation   of   Swarthmore   men   and   women   add   to    the 


1 6        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1913 

strength  of  that  lineage  and  the  glory  of  that  crown  of 
life! 

White  House  Pamphlet, 

8.    RELATIONS  WITH  LATIN  AMERICA 

(October  27,  19 13) 

Address  Before  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress 
AT  Mobile 

It  is  with  unaffected  pleasure  that  I  fmd  myself  here 
to-day.  I  once  before  had  the  pleasure,  in  another  southern 
city,  of  addressing  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress.  I 
then  spoke  of  what  the  future  seemed  to  hold  in  store  for 
this  region,  which  so  many  of  us  love  and  toward  the  future 
of  which  we  all  look  forward  with  so  much  confidence  and 
hope.  But  another  theme  directed  me  here  this  time.  I  do 
not  need  to  speak  of  the  South.  She  has,  perhaps,  acquired 
the  gift  of  speaking  for  herself.  I  come  because  I  want  to 
speak  of  our  present  and  prospective  relations  with  our 
neighbors  to  the  south.  I  deemed  it  a  public  duty,  as  well 
as  a  personal  pleasure,  to  be  here  to  express  for  myself  and 
for  the  Government  I  represent  the  welcome  we  all  feel  to 
those  who  represent  the  Latin-American  States. 

The  future,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  going  to  be  very 
different  for  this  hemisphere  from  the  past.  These  States 
lying  to  the  south  of  us,  which  have  always  been  our  neigh- 
bors, will  now"  be  drawn  closer  to  us  by  innumerable  ties, 
and,  I  hope,  chief  of  all,  by  the  tie  of  a  common  under- 
standing of  each  other.  Interest  does  not  tie  nations  to- 
gether; it  sometimes  separates  them.  But  sympathy  and 
understanding  does  imite  them,  and  I  believe  that  by  the 
new  route  that  is  just  about  to  be  opened,  while  we  phys- 
ically cut  two  continents  asunder,  we  spiritually  imite  them. 
It  is  a  spiritual  union  which  we  seek. 

I  wonder  if  you  realize,  I  wonder  if  your  imaginations 
have  been  filled  with  the  significance  of  the  tides  of  com- 
merce.    Your  governor  alluded   in  very  fit  and  striking 


Oct.  2  7]     RELATIONS  WITH  LATIN  AMERICA        17 

terms  to  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  but  Columbus  took  his 
voyage  under  compulsion  of  circumstances.  Constantinople 
had  been  captured  by  the  Turks  and  all  the  routes  of  trade 
T  -th  the  East  had  been  suddenly  closed.  If  there  was  not 
\f^aLy  across  the  Atlantic  to  open  those  routes  again,  they 
•  r^re  closed  forever;  and  Columbus  set  out  not  to  discover 
America,  for  he  did  not  know  that  it  existed,  but  to  discover 
the  eastern  shores  of  Asia.  He  set  sail  for  Cathay  and  stum- 
bled upon  America.  With  that  change  in  the  outlook  of 
the  world,  what  happened?  England,  that  had  been  at  the 
back  of  Europe  with  an  unknown  sea  behind  her,  found  that 
all  things  had  turned  as  if  upon  a  pivot  and  she  was  at  the 
front  of  Europe;  and  smce  then  all  the  tides  of  energy  and 
enterprise  that  have  issued  out  of  Europe  have  seemed  to  be 
turned  westward  across  the  Atlantic.  But  you  will  notice 
that  they  have  turned  westward  chiefly  north  of  the  Equator, 
and  that  it  is  the  northern  half  of  the  globe  that  has  seemed 
to  be  filled  with  the  media  of  intercourse  and  of  sympathy 
and  of  common  understanding. 

Do  you  not  see  now  wha^  is  about  to  happen?  These 
great  tides  which  have  been  nmning  along  parallels  of  lati- 
tude will  now  swing  southward  athwart  parallels  of  latitude, 
and  that  opening  gate  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  will  open 
the  world  to  a  commerce  that  she  has  not  known  before,  a 
commerce  of  intelligence,  of  thought  and  sympathy  between 
North  and  South.  The  Latin- American  States  which,  to 
their  disadvantage,  have  been  off  the  main  lines  will  now 
be  on  the  main  lines.  I  feel  that  these  gentlemen  honoring 
us  with  their  presence  to-day  will  presently  find  that  some 
part,  at  any  rate,  of  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  world  has 
shifted.  Do  you  realize  that  New  York,  for  example,  will 
be  nearer  the  western  coast  of  South  America  than  she  is 
now  to  the  eastern  coast  of  South  America?  Do  you  realize 
that  a  line  drawn  northward  parallel  with  the  greater  part 
of  the  western  coast  of  South  America  will  run  only  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  New  York?  The  great 
bulk  of  South  America,  if  you  will  look  at  your  globes  (not 
at  your  Mercator's  projection),  lies  eastward  of  the  con- 
tinent of  North  America.    You  will  realize  that  when  you 


i8        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [19. 


realize  that  the  canal  will  run  southeast,  not  southwest,  an 
that  when  you  get  into  the  Pacific  you  will  be  farther  eas 
than  you  were  when  you  left  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Thes 
things  are  significant,  therefore,  of  this,  that  we  are  closin 
one  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  world  and  are  opening  ?'  I 
other  of  great,  unimaginable  significance.  P^' 

There  is  one  peculiarity  about  the  history  of  the  Lat)  ^ 
American  States  which  I  am  sure  they  are  keenly  aware  1 
You  hear  of  "concessions"  to  foreign  capitalists  in  Laii 
America.  You  do  not  hear  of  concessions  to  foreign  capita, 
ists  in  the  United  States.  They  are  not  granted  concessions 
They  are  invited  to  make  investments.  The  work  is  ours 
though  they  are  welcome  to  invest  in  it.  We  do  not  ask 
them  to  supply  the  capital  and  do  the  work.  It  is  an  invita 
tion,  not  a  privilege;  and  States  that  are  obliged,  because 
their  territory  does  not  lie  within  the  -main  field  of  modem 
enterprise  and  action,  to  grant  concessions  are  in  this  con- 
dition, that  foreign  interests  are  apt  to  dominate  their  do 
mestic  affairs,  a  condition  of  affairs  always  dangerous  and 
apt  to  become  intolerable.  What  these  States  are  going  to 
see,  therefore,  is  an  emancipation  from  the  subordination, 
which  has  been  inevitable,  to  foreign  enterprise  and  an  asser- 
tion of  the  splendid  character  which,  in  spite  of  these  diffi- 
culties, they  have  again  and  again  been  able  to  demonstrate. 
The  dignity,  the  courage,  the  self-possession,  the  self-respect 
of  the  Latin-American  States,  their  achievements  in  the  face 
of  aU  these  adverse  circumstances,  deserve  nothing  but  the 
admiration  and  applause  of  the  world.  They  have  had 
harder  bargains  driven  with  them  in  the  matter  of  loans  than 
any  other  peoples  in  the  world.  Interest  has  been  exacted 
of  them  that  was  not  exacted  of  anybody  else,  because  the 
risk  was  said  to  be  greater;  and  then  securities  were  taken 
that  destroyed  the  risk — an  admirable  arrangement  for  those 
who  were  forcing  the  terms!  I  rejoice  in  nothing  so  much  as 
in  the  prospect  that  they  will  now  be  emancipated  from 
l3iese  conditions;  and  we  ought  to  be  the  first  to  take  part 
in  assisting  in  that  emancipation.  I  think  some  of  these 
gentlemen  have  already  had  occasion  to  bear  witness  that 
the  Departmwit  of  State  in  recent  months  has  tried  to  serve 


Oct.  27]     RELATIONS  WITH  LATIN  AMERICA        19 

:them  in  that  wise.  In  the  future  they  will  draw  closer  and 
^closer  to  us  because  of  circumstances  of  which  I  wish  to 
speak  with  moderation  and,  I  hop>e,  without  indiscretion. 
,  We  must  prove  ourselves  their  friends  and  champions  upon 
terms  of  equality  and  honor.  You  cannot  be  friends  upon 
any  other  terms  than  upon  the  terms  of  equality.  You 
cannot  be  friends  at  all  except  upon  the  terms  of  honor. 
We  must  show  ourselves  friends  by  comprehending  their 
interest  whether  it  squares  with  our  own  interest  or  not.  It 
is  a  very  perilous  thing  to  determine  the  foreign  policy  of  a 
nation  in  the  terms  of  m.aterial  interest.  It  not  only  is 
unfair  to  those  with  whom  you  are  dealing,  but  it  is  degrad- 
ing as  regards  your  own  actions. 

Comprehension  must  be  the  soil  in  which  shall  grow  all 
the  fruits  of  friendship,  and  there  is  a  reason  and  a  com- 
pulsion lying  behind  all  this  which  is  dearer  than  anything 
else  to  the  thoughtful  men  of  America.  I  mean  the  develop- 
ment of  constitutional  liberty  in  the  world.  Human  rights, 
national  integrity,  and  opportunity  as  against  material 
interests — that,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  the  issue  which  we 
now  have  to  face.  I  want  to  take  this  occasion  to  say  that 
the  United  States  will  never  again  seek  one  additional  foot 
of  territory  by  conquest.  She  will  devote  herself  to  showing 
that  she  knows  how  to  make  honorable  and  fruitful  use  of 
the  territory  she  has,  and  she  must  regard  it  as  one  of  the 
duties  of  friendship  to  see  that  from  no  quarter  are  material 
interests  made  superior  to  human  liberty  and  national  oppor- 
tunity. I  say  this,  not  with  a  single  thought  that  anyone 
will  gainsay  it,  but  merely  to  fix  in  our  consciousness  what 
our  real  relationship  with  the  rest  of  America  is.  It  is  the 
relationship  of  a  family  of  mankind  devoted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  true  constitutional  liberty.  We  know  that  that  is 
the  soil  out  of  which  the  best  enterprise  springs.  We  know 
that  this  is  a  cause  which  we  are  making  in  common  with 
our  neighbors,  because  we  have  had  to  make  it  for  ourselves. 

Reference  has  been  made  here  to-day  to  some  of  the  na- 
tional problems  which  confront  us  as  a  Nation.  What  is  at 
the  heart  of  all  our  national  problems?  It  is  that  we  have 
seen  the  hand  of  material  interest  sometimes  about  to  clos^ 


20        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1913 

upon  our  dearest  rights  and  possessions.  We  have  seen 
material  interests  threaten  constitutional  freedom  in  the 
United  States.  Therefore  we  will  now  know  how  to  S3mipa- 
thize  with  those  in  the  rest  of  America  who  have  to  contend 
with  such  powers,  not  only  within  their  borders  but  from 
outside  their  borders  also. 

I  know  what  the  response  of  the  thought  and  heart  of 
America  will  be  to  the  program  I  have  outlined,  because 
America  was  created  to  realize  a  program  like  that.  This 
is  not  America  because  it  is  rich.  This  is  not  America  be- 
cause it  has  set  up  for  a  great  population  great  opportuni- 
ties of  material  prosperity.  America  is  a  name  which  sounds 
in  the  ears  of  men  ever3rw'here  as  a  synonjnn  with  individual 
opportunity  because  a  s3aion3an  of  individual  liberty.  I 
would  rather  belong  to  a  poor  nation  that  was  free  than  to 
a  rich  nation  that  had  ceased  to  be  in  love  with  liberty.  But 
we  shall  not  be  poor  if  we  love  liberty,  because  the  nation 
that  loves  liberty  truly  sets  every  man  free  to  do  his  best 
and  be  his  best,  and  that  means  the  release  of  all  the  splendid 
energies  of  a  great  people  who  think  for  themselves.  A 
nation  of  employees  cannot  be  free  any  more  than  a  nation 
of  employers  can  be. 

In  emphasizing  the  points  which  must  unite  us  in  sympathy 
and  in  spiritual  interest  with  the  Latin- American  peoples  we 
are  only  emphasizing  the  points  of  our  own  life,  and  we 
should  prove  ourselves  untrue  to  our  own  traditions  if  we 
proved  ourselves  untrue  friends  to  them.  Do  not  think, 
therefore,  gentlemen,  that  the  questions  of  the  day  are  mere 
questions  of  policy  and  diplomacy.  They  are  shot  through 
with  the  principles  of  life.  We  dare  not  turn  from  the 
principle  that  morality  and  not  expediency  is  the  thing  that 
must  guide  us  and  that  we  will  never  condone  iniquity  be- 
cause it  is  most  convenient  to  do  so.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  is  a  day  of  infinite  hope,  of  confidence  in  a  future  greater 
than  the  past  has  been,  for  I  am  fain  to  believe  that  in  spite 
of  all  the  things  that  we  wish  to  correct  the  nineteenth 
century  that  lies  behind  us  has  brought  us  a  long  stage 
toward  the  time  when,  slowly  ascending  the  tedious  climb 
that  leads  to  the  final  uplands,  we  shall  get  our  ultimate 


Oct.  27]     RELATIONS  WITH  LATIN  AMERICA       21 

view  of  the  duties  of  mankind.  We  have  breasted  a  con- 
siderable part  of  that  climb  and  shall  presently — ^it  may  be 
in  a  generation  or  two — come  out  upon  those  great  heights 
where  there  shines  unobstructed  the  light  of  the  justice  of 

:gp4 

Congressional  Record,  L,  5845. 


YEAR    1914 

9.    REGULATION  OF  TRUSTS 

(January  20,  19 14) 

Address  to  Congress 

In  my  report  "on  the  state  of  the  Union,"  -whidi  I  had 
the  privilege  of  reading  to  you  on  the  2d  of  December  last, 
I  ventured  to  reserve  for  discussion  at  a  later  date  the  sub- 
ject of  additional  legislation  regarding  the  very  difficult  and 
intricate  matter  of  trusts  and  monopolies.  The  time  now 
seems  opportune  to  turn  to  that  great  question;  not  only 
because  the  currency  legislation,  which  absorbed  your  atten- 
tion and  the  attention  of  the  country  in  December,  is  now 
disposed  of,  but  also  because  opinion  seems  to  be  clearing 
about  us  with  singular  rapidity  in  this  other  great  field  of 
action.  In  the  matter  of  the  currency  it  cleared  suddenly 
and  very  happily  after  the  much-debated  Act  was  passed; 
in  respect  of  the  monopolies  which  have  multiplied  about  us 
and  in  regard  to  the  various  means  by  which  they  have  been 
organized  and  maintained  it  seems  to  be  coming  to  a  clear 
and  all  but  universal  agreement  in  anticipation  of  our  action, 
as  if  by  way  of  preparation,  making  the  way  easier  to  see 
and  easier  to  set  out  upon  with  confidence  and  without  con- 
fusion of  counsel.  *  *  * 

The  great  business  men  who  organized  and  financed  mo- 
nopoly and  those  who  administered  it  in  actual  everyday 
transactions  have  year  after  year,  imtil  now,  either  denied 
its  existence  or  justified  it  as  necessary  for  the  effective 
maintenance  and  development  of  the  vast  business  processes 
of  the  country  in  the  modem  circumstances  of  trade  and 

7% 


Jan.  20]  REGULATION  OF  TRUSTS  23 

manufacture  and  finance;  but  all  the  while  opinion  has  made 
head  against  them.  The  average  business  man  is  con- 
vinced that  the  ways  of  liberty  are  also  the  ways  of  peace 
and  the  ways  of  success  as  well;  and  at  last  the  masters  of 
business  on  the  great  scale  have  begun  to  yield  their  prefer- 
ence and  purpose,  perhaps  their  judgment  also,  in  honorable 
surrender. 

What  we  are  purposing  to  do,  therefore,  is,  happily,  not  to 
hamper  or  interfere  with  business  as  enlightened  business 
men  prefer  to  do  it,  or  in  any  sense  to  put  it  under  the  ban. 
The  antagonism  between  business  and  government  is  over. 
We  are  now  about  to  give  expression  to  the  best  business 
judgment  of  America,  to  what  we  know  to  be  the  business 
of  conscience  and  honor  of  the  land.  The  Government  and 
business  men  are  ready  to  meet  each  other  half  way  in  a 
common  effort  to  square  business  methods  with  both  public 
opinion  and  the  law.  The  best  informed  men  of  the  business 
world  condemn  the  methods  and  processes  and  consequences 
of  monopoly  as  we  condemn  them;  and  the  instinctive  judg- 
ment of  the  vast  majority  of  business  men  everywhere  goes 
with  them.  We  shall  now  be  their  spokesmen.  That  is  the 
strength  of  our  position  and  the  sure  prophecy  of  what  will 
ensue  when  our  reasonable  work  is  done. 

When  serious  contest  ends,  when  men  unite  in  opinion  and 
purpose,  those  who  are  to  change  their  ways  of  business 
joining  with  those  who  ask  for  the  change,  it  is  possible  to 
effect  it  in  the  way  in  which  prudent  and  thoughtful  and 
patriotic  men  would  wish  to  see  it  brought  about,  with  as 
few,  as  slight,  as  easy  and  simple  business  readjustments  as 
possible  in  the  circumstances,  nothing  essential  disturbed, 
nothing  torn  up  by  the  roots,  no  parts  rent  asunder  which 
can  be  left  in  wholesome  combination.  Fortunately,  no 
measures  of  sweeping  or  novel  change  are  necessary.  It 
will  be  understood  that  our  object  is  not  to  unsettle  busi- 
ness or  anywhere  seriously  to  break  its  established  courses 
athwart.  On  the  contrary,  we  desire  the  laws  we  are  now 
about  to  pass  to  be  the  bulwarks  and  safeguards  of  industry 
against  the  forces  that  have  disturbed  it.  What  we  have  to 
do  can  be  done  in  a  new  spirit,  in  thoughtful  moderation, 
without  revolution  of  any  untoward  kind. 


24        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

We  are  all  agreed  that  "private  monopoly  is  indefensible 
and  intolerable,"  and  our  programme  is  founded  upon  that 
conviction.  It  will  be  a  comprehensive  but  not  a  radical  or 
unacceptable  programme  and  these  are  its  items,  the  changes 
which  opinion  deliberately  sanctions  and  for  which  business 
waits: 

It  waits  with  acquiescence,  in  the  first  place,  for  laws 
which  will  effectually  prohibit  and  prevent  such  interlock- 
ings  of  the  personnel  of  the  directorates  of  great  corpora- 
tions— ^banks  and  railroads,  industrial,  commercial,  and  pub- 
Kc  service  bodies — as  in  effect  result  in  making  those  who 
borrow  and  those  who  lend  practically  one  and  the  same, 
those  who  sell  and  those  who  buy  but  the  same  persons 
trading  with  one  another  under  different  names  and  in  dif- 
ferent combinations,  and  those  who  affect  to  compete  in  fact 
partners  and  masters  of  some  whole  field  of  business.  Suf- 
ficient time  should  be  allowed,  of  course,  in  which  to  effect 
these  changes  of  organization  without  inconvenience  or 
confusion. 

Such  a  prohibition  will  work  much  more  than  a  mere 
negative  good  by  correcting  the  serious  evils  which  have 
arisen  because,  for  example,  the  men  who  have  been  the 
directing  spirits  of  the  great  investment  banks  have  usurped 
the  place  which  belongs  to  independent  industrial  manage- 
ment working  in  its  own  behoof.  It  will  bring  new  men, 
new  energies,  a  new  spirit  of  initiative,  new  blood,  into  the 
management  of  our  great  business  enterprises.  It  will  open 
the  field  of  industrial  development  and  origination  to  scores 
of  men  who  have  been  obliged  to  serve  when  their  abilities 
entitled  them  to  direct.  It  will  immensely  hearten  the  young 
men  coming  on  and  will  greatly  enrich  the  business  activi- 
ties of  the  whole  country.  *  =5^  * 

The  business  of  the  country  awaits  also,  has  long  awaited 
and  has  suffered  because  it  could  not  obtain,  further  and 
more  explicit  legislative  definition  of  the  policy  and  meaning 
of  the  existing  antitrust  law.  Nothing  hampers  business  like 
uncertainty.  Nothing  daunts  or  discourages  it  like  the  neces- 
sity to  take  chances,  to  run  the  risk  of  falling  under  the 
condemnation  of  the  law  before  it  can  make  sure  just  what 
the  law  is.    Surely  we  are  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  actual 


Jan.  20]  REGULATION  OF  TRUSTS  25 

processes  and  methods  of  monopoly  and  of  the  many  hurtful 
restraints  of  trade  to  make  definition  possible,  at  any  rate 
up  to  the  limits  of  what  experience  has  disclosed.  These 
practices,  being  now  abundantly  disclosed,  can  be  explicitly 
and  item  by  item  forbidden  by  statute  in  such  terms  as 
will  practically  eliminate  uncertainty,  the  law  itself  and  the 
penalty  being  made  equally  plain. 

And  the  business  men  of  the  country  desire  something  more 
than  that  the  menace  of  legal  process  in  these  matters  be 
made  explicit  and  intelligible.  They  desire  the  advice,  the 
definite  guidance  and  information  which  can  be  supplied  by 
an  administrative  body,  an  interstate  trade  commission. 

The  opinion  of  the  coimtry  would  instantly  approve  of 
such  a  commission.  It  would  not  wish  to  see  it  empowered 
to  make  terms  with  monopoly  or  in  any  sort  to  assume  con- 
trol of  business,  as  if  the  Government  made  itself  responsible. 
It  demands  such  a  commission  only  as  an  indispensable  in- 
strument of  information  and  publicity,  as  a  clearing  house  for 
the  facts  by  which  both  the  public  mind  and  the  managers 
of  great  business  undertakings  should  be  guided,  and  as  an 
instrumentality  for  doing  justice  to  business  where  the  proc- 
esses of  the  courts  or  the  natural  forces  of  correction  outside 
the  courts  are  inadequate  to  adjust  the  remedy  to  the  wrong 
in  a  way  that  will  meet  all  the  equities  and  circumstances  of 
the  case. 

Producing  industries,  for  example,  which  have  passed  the 
point  up  to  which  combination  may  be  consistent  with  the 
public  interest  and  the  freedom  of  trade,  can  not  always  be 
dissected  into  their  component  units  as  readily  as  railroad 
companies  or  similar  organizations  can  be.  Their  dissolution 
by  ordinary  legal  process  may  often-times  involve  financial 
consequences  likely  to  overwhelm  the  security  market  and 
bring  upon  it  breakdown  and  confusion.  There  ought  to  be 
an  administrative  commission  capable  of  directing  and  shap- 
ing such  corrective  processes,  not  only  in  aid  of  the  courts 
but  also  by  independent  suggestion,  if  necessary. 

Inasmuch  as  our  object  and  the  spirit  of  our  action  in 
these  matters  is  to  meet  business  half  way  in  its  processes  of 
self-correction  and  disturb  its  legitimate  course  as  little  as 
possible,  we  ought  to  see  to  it,  and  the  judgment  of  practical 


2  6        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

and  sagacious  men  of  affairs  everywhere  would  applaud  us 
if  we  did  see  it,  that  penalties  and  punishments  should  fall, 
not  upon  business  itself,  to  its  confusion  and  interruption, 
but  upon  the  individuals  who  use  the  instrumentalities  of 
business  to  do  things  which  public  policy  and  soimd  business 
practice  condemn.  Every  act  of  business  is  done  at  the  com- 
mand or  upon  the  initiative  of  some  ascertainable  person 
or  group  of  persons.  These  should  be  held  individually  re- 
sponsible and  the  punishment  should  fall  upon  them,  not 
upon  the  business  organization  of  which  they  make  illegal 
use.  It  should  be  one  of  the  main  objects  of  our  legislation 
to  divest  such  persons  of  their  corporate  cloak  and  deal  with 
them  as  with  those  who  do  not  represent  their  corporations, 
but  merely  by  deliberate  intention  break  the  law.  Business 
men  the  country  through  would,  I  am  sure,  applaud  us  if 
we  were  to  take  effectual  steps  to  see  that  the  officers  and 
directors  of  great  business  bodies  were  prevented  from  bring- 
ing them  and  the  business  of  the  country  into  disrepute  and 
danger. 

Other  questions  remain  which  will  need  very  thoughtful 
and  practical  treatment.  Enterprises,  in  these  modem  days 
of  great  individual  fortunes,  are  oftentimes  interlocked,  not 
by  being  under  the  control  of  the  same  directors,  but  by  the 
fact  that  the  greater  part  of  their  corporate  stock  is  owned 
by  a  single  person  or  group  of  p)ersons  who  are  in  some  way 
intimately  related  in  interest.  We  are  agreed,  I  take  it,  that 
holding  companies  should  be  prohibited,  but  what  of  the 
controlling  private  ownership  of  individuals  or  actually  co- 
operative groups  of  individuals?  Shall  the  private  owners 
of  capital  stock  be  suffered  to  be  themselves  in  effect  holding 
companies?  We  do  not  wish,  I  suppose,  to  forbid  the  pur- 
chase of  stocks  by  any  person  who  pleases  to  buy  them  in 
such  quantities  as  he  can  afford,  or  in  any  way  arbitrarily  to 
limit  the  sale  of  stocks  to  bona  fide  purchasers.  Shall  we 
require  the  owners  of  stock,  when  their  voting  power  in 
several  companies  which  ought  to  be  independent  of  one 
another  would  constitute  actual  control,  to  make  election  in 
which  of  them  they  will  exercise  their  right  to  vote?  This 
question  I  venture  for  your  consideration.  *  *  * 

I  have  laid  the  case  before  you,  no  doubt  as  it  lies  in  your 


Jan.  20]  REGULATION  OF  TRUSTS  27 

own  mind,  as  it  lies  in  the  thought  of  the  country.  What 
must  every  candid  man  say  of  the  suggestions  I  have  laid 
before  you,  of  the  plain  obligations  of  which  I  have  reminded 
you?  That  these  are  new  things  for  which  the  country  is 
not  prepared?  No;  but  that  they  are  old  things,  now  fa- 
miliar, and  must  of  course  be  undertaken  if  we  are  to  square 
our  laws  with  the  thought  and  desire  of  the  country,  tjntil 
these  things  are  done,  conscientious  business  men  the  country 
over  will  be  unsatisfied.  They  are  in  these  things  our  men- 
tors and  colleagues.  We  are  now  about  to  write  the  addi- 
tional articles  of  our  constitution  of  peace,  the  peace  that  is 
honor  and  freedom  and  prosperity. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 

10.    TOLLS  ON  THE  PANAMA  CANAL 

(March  5,  19 14) 
Address  to  Congress 

I  have  come  to  you  upon  an  errand  which  can  be  very 
briefly  performed,  but  I  beg  that  you  will  not  measure  its 
importance  by  the  number  of  sentences  in  which  I  state  it. 
No  communication  I  have  addressed  to  the  Congress  carried 
with  it  graver  or  more  far-reaching  implications  as  to  the 
interest  of  the  country,  and  I  come  now  to  speak  upon  a  mat- 
ter with  regard  to  which  I  am  charged  in  a  peculiar  degree, 
by  the  Constitution  itself,  with  personal  responsibility. 

I  have  come  to  ask  you  for  the  repeal  of  that  provision 
of  the  Panama  Canal  Act  of  August  24,  19 12,  which  exempts 
vessels  engaged  in  the  coastwise  trade  of  the  United  States 
from  payment  of  tolls,  and  to  urge  upon  you  the  justice,  the 
wisdom,  and  the  large  policy  of  such  a  repeal  with  the  ut- 
most earnestness  of  which  I  am  capable. 

In  my  own  judgment,  very  fully  considered  and  maturely 
formed,  that  exemption  constitutes  a  mistaken  economic 
policy  from  every  point  of  view,  and  is,  moreover,  in  plain 
contravention  of  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  concerning  the 
canal  concluded  on  November  18,  1901.  But  I  have  not 
come  to  urge  upon  yoa  my  personal  views.    I  have  come  to 


28        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

state  to  you  a  fact  and  a  situation.  Whatever  may  be  our 
own  differences  of  opinion  concerning  this  much  debated 
measure,  its  meaning  is  not  debated  outside  the  United 
States.  Ever5rwhere  else  the  language  of  the  treaty  is  given 
but  one  interpretation,  and  that  interpretation  precludes  the 
exemption  I  am  asking  you  to  repeal.  We  consented  to  the 
treaty;  its  language  we  accepted,  if  we  did  not  originate  it; 
and  we  are  too  big,  too  powerful,  too  self-respecting  a  nation 
to  interpret  with  a  too  strained  or  refined  reading  the  words 
of  our  own  promises  just  because  we  have  power  enough  to 
give  us  leave  to  read  them  as  we  please.  The  large  thing 
to  do  is  the  only  thing  we  can  afford  to  do,  a  voluntary  with- 
drawal from  a  position  everywhere  questioned  and  misunder- 
stood. We  ought  to  reverse  our  action  without  raising  the 
question  whether  we  were  right  or  wrong,  and  so  once  more 
deserve  our  reputation  for  generosity  and  for  the  redemption 
of  every  obligation  without  quibble  or  hesitation. 

I  ask  this  of  you  in  support  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
administration.  I  shall  not  know  how  to  deal  with  other  mat- 
ters of  even  greater  delicacy  and  nearer  consequence  if  you 
do  not  grant  it  to  me  in  ungrudging  measure. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


II.     PATRIOTISM  AND  THE  SAILOR 

(May  16,  1914) 

Address  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  Statue  of  Commodore 
John  Barry 

I  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  be  present  on  this  interesting  oc- 
casion, and  I  am  very  much  tempted  to  anticipate  some  part 
of  what  the  orators  of  the  day  will  say  about  the  character 
of  the  great  man  whose  memory  we  celebrate.  If  I  were  to 
attempt  an  historical  address,  I  might,  however,  be  led  too 
far  afield.  I  am  going  to  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of  draw- 
ing a  few  inferences  from  the  significance  of  this  occa- 
.sion. 

I  think  that  we  can  never  be  present  at  a  ceremony  of 


May  1 6]     PATRIOTISM  AND  THE  SAILOR  29 

this  kind,  which  carries  our  thought  back  to  the  great  Revo- 
lution, by  means  of  which  our  Government  was  set  up, 
without  feeling  that  it  is  an  occasion  of  reminder,  of  re- 
newal, of  refreshment,  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  again  to 
the  great  issues  which  were  presented  to  the  little  Nation 
which  then  asserted  its  independence  to  the  world;  to  which 
it  spoke  both  in  eloquent  representations  of  its  cause  and  in 
the  sound  of  arms,  and  ask  ourselves  what  it  was  that  these 
men  fought  for.  No  one  can  turn  to  the  career  of  Commo- 
dore Barry  without  feeling  a  touch  of  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  he  devoted  an  originating  mind  to  the  great  cause 
which  he  intended  to  serve,  and  it  behooves  us,  living  in  this 
age  when  no  man  can  question  the  power  of  the  Nation,  when 
no  man  would  dare  to  doubt  its  right  and  its  determination 
to  act  for  itself,  to  ask  what  it  was  that  filled  the  hearts  of 
these  men  when  they  set  the  Nation  up. 

For  patriotism,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  in  my  mind  not 
merely  a  sentiment.  There  is  a  certain  effervescence,  I  sup- 
pose, which  ought  to  be  permitted  to  those  who  allow  their 
hearts  to  speak  in  the  celebration  of  the  glory  and  majesty 
of  their  country,  but  the  country  can  have  no  glory  and  no 
majesty  unless  there  be  a  deep  principle  and  conviction  back 
of  the  enthusiasm.  Patriotism  is  a  principle,  not  a  mere  sen- 
timent. No  man  can  be  a  true  patriot  who  does  not  feel 
himself  shot  through  and  through  with  a  deep  ardor  for  what 
his  country  stands  for,  what  its  existence  means,  what  its 
purpose  is  declared  to  be  in  its  history  and  in  its  policy.  I 
recall  those  solemn  lines  of  the  poet  Tennyson  in  which  he 
tries  to  give  voice  to  his  conception  of  what  it  is  that  stirs 
within  a  nation:  "Some  sense  of  duty,  something  of  a  faith, 
some  reverence  for  the  laws  ourselves  have  made,  some 
patient  force  to  change  them  when  we  will,  some  civic  man- 
hood firm  against  the  crowd;"  steadfastness;  clearness  of 
purpose,  courage,  persistency,  and  that  uprightness  which 
comes  from  the  clear  thinking  of  men  who  wish  to  serve  not 
themselves  but  their  fellow  men. 

What  does  the  United  States  stand  for,  then,  that  our 
hearts  should  be  stirred  by  the  memory  of  the  men  who  set 
her  Constitution  up?  John  Barry  fought,  like  every  other 
•«*an  in  the  Revolution,  in  order  triat  America  might  be  free 


30        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

to  make  her  o'wn  life  without  interruption  or  disturbance  from 
any  other  quarter.  You  can  sum  the  whole  thing  up  in  that, 
that  America  had  a  right  to  her  own  self-determined  life; 
and  what  are  our  corollaries  from  that?  You  do  not  have 
to  go  back  to  stir  your  thoughts  again  with  the  issues  of  the 
Revolution.  Some  of  the  issues  of  the  Revolution  were  not 
the  cause  of  it,  but  merely  the  occasion  for  it.  There  are 
just  as  vital  things  stirring  now  that  concern  the  existence  of 
the  Nation  as  were  stirring  then,  and  every  man  who  worthily 
stands  in  this  presence  should  examine  himself  and  see 
whether  he  has  the  full  conception  of  what  it  means  that 
America  should  live  her  own  life.  Washington  saw  it  when 
he  wrote  his  farewell  address.  It  was  not  merely  because  of 
passing  and  transient  circumstances  that  Washington  said 
that  we  must  keep  free  from  entangling  alliances.  It  was 
because  he  saw  that  no  country  had  yet  set  its  face  in  the 
same  direction  in  which  America  had  set  her  face.  We  can 
not  form  alliances  with  those  who  are  not  going  our  way; 
and  in  our  might  and  majesty  and  in  the  confidence  and 
definiteness  of  our  own  purpose  we  need  not  and  we  should 
not  form  alliances  with  any  nation  in  the  world.  Those 
who  are  right,  those  who  study  their  consciences  in  determin- 
ing their  policies,  those  who  hold  their  honor  higher  than 
their  advantage,  do  not  need  alliances.  You  need  alliances 
when  you  are  not  strong,  and  you  are  weak  only  when  you 
are  not  true  to  yourself.  You  are  weak  only  when  you  are 
in  the  wrong;  you  are  weak  only  when  you  are  afraid  to  do 
the  right;  you  are  weak  only  when  you  doubt  your  cause  and 
the  majesty  of  a  nation's  might  asserted. 

There  is  another  corollary.  John  Barry  was  an  Irishman, 
but  his  heart  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  him.  He  did  not 
leave  it  in  Ireland.  And  the  test  of  all  of  us — for  all  of  us 
had  our  origins  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea — is  whether  we 
will  assist  in  enabling  America  to  live  her  separate  and  in- 
dependent life,  retaining  our  ancient  affections,  indeed,  but 
determining  everything  that  we  do  by  the  interests  that  exist 
on  this  side  of  the  sea.  Some  Americans  need  hyphens  in 
their  names,  because  only  part  of  them  has  come  over;  but 
when  the  whole  man  has  come  over,  heart  and  thought  and 
all,  the  hyphen  drops  of  its  own  weight  out  of  his  name. 


May  1 6]         PATRIOTISM  AND  THE  SAILOR  31 

This  man  was  not  an  Irish- American ;  he  was  an  Irishman 
who  became  an  American.  I  venture  to  say  if  he  voted  he 
voted  with  regard  to  the  questions  as  they  looked  on  this  side 
of  the  water  and  not  as  they  affected  the  other  side; 
and  that  is  my  infallible  test  of  a  genuine  American, 
that  when  he  votes  or  when  he  acts  or  when  he  fights 
his  heart  and  his  thought  are  centered  nowhere  but  in  the 
emotions  and  the  purposes  and  the  policies  of  the  United 
States. 

This  man  illustrates  for  me  all  the  splendid  strength  which 
we  brought  into  this  country  by  the  magnet  of  freedom. 
Men  have  been  drawn  to  this  country  by  the  same  thing  that 
has  made  us  love  this  country — ^by  the  opportunity  to  live 
their  own  lives  and  to  think  their  own  thoughts  and  to  let 
their  whole  natures  expand  with  the  expansion  of  a  free  and 
mighty  Nation.  We  have  brought  out  of  the  stocks  of  all 
the  world  all  the  best  impulses  and  have  appropriated  them 
and  Americanized  them  and  translated  them  into  the  glory 
and  majesty  of  a  great  country. 

So,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when  we  go  out  from  this  pres- 
ence we  ought  to  take  this  idea  with  us  that  we,  too,  are 
devoted  to  the  purpose  of  enabling  America  to  live  her  own 
life,  to  be  the  justest,  the  most  progressive,  the  most  honor- 
able, the  most  enlightened  Nation  in  the  world.  Any  man 
that  touches  our  honor  is  our  enemy.  Any  man  who  stands 
in  the  way  of  the  kind  of  progress  which  makes  for  human 
freedom  can  not  call  himself  our  friend.  Any  man  who  does 
not  feel  behind  him  the  whole  push  and  rush  and  compul- 
sion that  filled  men's  hearts  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
is  no  American.  No  man  who  thinks  first  of  himself  and 
afterwards  of  his  country  can  call  himself  an  American. 
America  must  be  enriched  by  us.  We  must  not  live  upon 
her;  she  must  live  by  means  of  us. 

I,  for  one,  come  to  this  shrine  to  renew  the  impulses  of 
American  democracy.  I  would  be  ashamed  of  myself  if  I 
went  away  from  this  place  without  realizing  again  that  every 
bit  of  selfishness  must  be  purged  from  our  policy,  that  e\  ery 
bit  of  self-seeking  must  be  purged  from  our  individual  con- 
sciences, and  that  we  must  be  great,  if  we  would  be  great  at 
all,  in  the  light  and  illumination  of  the  example  of  men  who 


32        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1914 

gave  everything  that  they  were  and  eveiything  that  they  had 
to  the  glory  and  honor  of  America. 

White  House  Pamphlet,' 


12.    THE  MEN  WHO   FOUGHT  FOR  THE  UNION 

(May  30,  1914) 

Memorial  Day  Address  at  Arlington 

I  have  not  come  here  to-day  with  a  prepared  address. 
The  committee  in  charge  of  the  exercises  of  the  day  have 
graciously  excused  me  on  the  groimds  of  public  obligations 
from  preparing  such  an  address,  but  I  will  not  deny  myself 
the  privilege  of  joining  with  you  in  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude and  admiration  for  the  men  who  perished  for  the  sake 
of  the  Union.  They  do  not  need  our  praise.  They  do  not 
need  that  our  admiration  should  sustain  them.  There  is 
no  immortality  that  is  safer  than  theirs.  We  come  not  for 
their  sakes  but  for  our  own,  in  order  that  we  may  drink  at 
the  same  springs  of  inspiration  from  which  they  themselves 
drank. 

A  peculiar  privilege  came  to  the  men  who  fought  for  the 
Union.  There  is  no  other  civil  war  in  history,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  the  stings  of  which  were  removed  before  the  men 
who  did  the  fighting  passed  from  the  stage  of  life.  So  that 
we  owe  these  men  something  more  than  a  legal  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  Union.  We  owe  them  the  spiritual  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  Union  as  well ;  for  they  not  only  reunited  States, 
they  reunited  the  spirits  of  men.  That  is  their  unique 
achievement,  unexampled  anywhere  else  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind, that  the  very  men  whom  they  overcame  in  battle  join 
in  praise  and  gratitude  that  the  Union  was  saved.  There  is 
something  peculiarly  beautiful  and  peculiarly  touching  about 
that.  Whenever  a  man  who  is  still  trying  to  devote  himself 
to  the  service  of  the  Nation  comes  into  a  presence  like  this, 
or  into  a  place  like  this,  his  spirit  must  be  peculiarly  moved. 
A  mandate  is  laid  upon  him  which  seems  to  speak  from  the 


May  30]     MEN  WHO  FOUGHT  FOR  THE  UNION     33 

very  graves  themselves.  Those  who  serve  this  Nation, 
whether  in  peace  or  in  war,  should  serve  it  without  thought 
of  themselves.  I  can  never  speak  in  praise  of  war,  ladies  and 
gentlemen;  you  would  not  desire  me  to  do  so.  But  there  is 
this  peculiar  distinction  belonging  to  the  soldier,  that  he  goes 
into  an  enterprise  out  of  which  he  himself  can  not  get  any- 
thing at  all.  He  is  giving  everything  that  he  hath,  even  his 
life,  in  order  that  others  may  live,  not  in  order  that  he  him- 
self may  obtain  gain  and  prosperity.  And  just  so  soon  as 
the  tasks  of  peace  are  performed  in  the  same  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  devotion,  peace  societies  will  not  be  necessary. 
The  very  organization  and  spirit  of  society  will  be  a  guar- 
anty of  peace. 

Therefore  this  peculiar  thing  comes  about,  that  we  can 
stand  here  and  praise  the  memory  of  these  soldiers  in  the 
interest  of  peace.  They  set  us  the  example  of  self-sacrifice, 
which  if  followed  in  peace  will  make  it  unnecessary  that 
men  should  follow  war  any  more. 

We  are  reputed  to  be  somewhat  careless  in  our  discrimina- 
tion between  words  in  the  use  of  the  English  language,  and 
yet  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  there  are  some  words  about 
which  we  are  very  careful.  We  bestow  the  adjective  "great" 
somewhat  indiscriminately.  A  man  who  has  made  conquest 
of  his  fellow  men  for  his  own  gain  may  display  such  genius 
in  war,  such  uncommon  qualities  of  organization  and  leader- 
ship that  we  may  call  him  "great,"  but  there  is  a  word  which 
we  reserve  for  men  of  another  kind  and  about  which  we  are 
very  careful;  that  is  the  word  "noble."  We  never  call  a  man 
"noble"  who  serves  only  himself;  and  if  you  will  look  about 
through  all  the  nations  of  the  world  upon  the  statues  that 
men  have  erected — upon  the  inscribed  tablets  where  they 
have  wished  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  the  citizens  whom 
they  desire  most  to  honor — you  will  find  that  almost  with- 
out exception  they  have  erected  the  statue  to  those  who  had 
a  splendid  surplus  of  energy  and  devotion  to  spend  upon 
their  fellow  men.  Nobility  exists  in  America  without  patent. 
We  have  no  House  of  Lords,  but  we  have  a  house  of  fame 
to  which  we  elevate  those  who  are  the  noble  men  of  our 
race,  who,  forgetful  of  themselves,  study  and  serve  the  pub- 


34        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

lie  interest,  who  have  the  courage  to  face  any  number  and 
any  kind  of  adversary,  to  speak  what  in  their  hearts  they 
believe  to  be  the  truth. 

We  admire  physical  courage,  but  we  admire  above  all 
things  else  moral  courage.  I  believe  that  soldiers  will  bear 
me  out  in  saying  that  both  come  in  time  of  battle.  I  take  it 
that  the  moral  courage  comes  in  going  in  the  battle,  and  the 
physical  courage  in  staying  in.  There  are  battles  which  are 
just  as  hard  to  go  into  and  just  as  hard  to  stay  in  as  the 
battles  of  arms,  and  if  the  man  will  but  stay  and  think  never 
of  himself  there  will  come  a  time  of  grateful  recollection  when 
men  will  speak  of  him  not  only  with  admiration  but  with  that 
which  goes  deeper,  with  affection  and  with  reverence. 

So  that  this  flag  calls  upon  us  daily  for  service,  and  the 
more  quiet  and  self-denying  the  service  the  greater  the  glory 
of  the  flag.  We  are  dedicated  to  freedom,  and  that  freedom 
means  the  freedom  of  the  human  spirit.  All  free  spirits 
ought  to  congregate  on  an  occasion  like  this  to  do  homage  to 
the  greatness  of  America  as  illustrated  by  the  greatness  of 
her  sons. 

It  has  been  a  privilege,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  come  and 
say  these  simple  words,  which  I  am  sure  are  merely  putting 
your  thought  into  language.  I  thank  you  for  the  opportimity 
to  lay  this  little  wreath  of  mine  upon  these  consecrated 
graves. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


13.    UNION  OF  SPIRIT  BETWEEN  NORTH 
AND  SOUTH 

(June  4,  1914) 

Address  at  a  Monument  in  Memory  of  the  Confed- 
erate Dead  at  Arlington 

I  assure  you  that  I  am  profoundly  aware  of  the  solemn 
significance  of  the  thing  that  has  now  taken  place.  The 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  have  presented  a  memorial 
of  their  dead  to  th«  Government  of  the  United  States,    i 


June  4]       UNION  OF  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  35 

hope  that  you  have  noted  the  history  of  the  conception  of 
this  idea.  It  was  suggested  by  a  President  of  the  United 
States  who  had  himself  been  a  distinguished  officer  in  the 
Union  Army.  It  was  authorized  by  an  act  of  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  The  comer  stone  of  the  monument  was 
laid  by  a  President  of  the  United  States  elevated  to  his  posi- 
tion by  the  votes  of  the  party  which  had  chiefly  prided  itself 
upon  sustaining  the  war  for  the  Union,  and  who,  while  Sec- 
retary of  War,  had  himself  given  authority  to  erect  it.  And, 
now,  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  accept  in  the  name  of  the 
great  Government,  which  I  am  privileged  for  the  time  to  rep- 
resent, this  emblem  of  a  reunited  people.  I  am  not  so  much 
happy  as  proud  to  participate  in  this  capacity  on  such  an  oc- 
casion,— ^proud  that  I  should  represent  such  a  people.  Am 
I  mistaken,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  supposing  that  nothing 
of  this  sort  could  have  occurred  in  anything  but  a  democ- 
racy? The  people  of  a  democracy  are  not  related  to  their 
rulers  as  subjects  are  related  to  a  government.  They  are 
themselves  the  sovereign  authority,  and  as  they  are  neighbors 
of  each  other,  quickened  by  the  same  influences  and  moved 
by  the  same  motives,  they  can  understand  each  other.  They 
are  shot  through  with  some  of  the  deepest  and  profoundest 
instincts  of  human  sympathy.  They  choose  their  govern- 
ments; they  select  their  rulers;  they  live  their  own  life,  and 
they  will  not  have  that  life  disturbed  and  discolored  by  fra- 
ternal misunderstandings.  I  know  that  a  reuniting  of  spirits 
Hke  this  can  take  place  more  quckly  in  our  time  than  in  any 
other  because  men  are  now  united  by  an  easier  transm.ission 
of  those  influences  which  make  up  the  foundations  of  peace 
and  of  mutual  understanding,  but  no  process  can  work  these 
effects  unless  there  is  a  conducting  medium.  The  conduct- 
ing medium  in  this  instance  is  the  united  heart  of  a  great 
people.  I  am  not  going  to  detain  you  by  trying  to  repeat 
any  of  the  eloquent  thoughts  which  have  moved  us  this  after- 
noon, for  I  rejoice  in  the  simplicity  of  the  task  which  is 
assigned  to  me.  My  privilege  is  this,  ladies  and  gentlemen: 
To  declare  this  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
closed  and  ended,  and  I  bid  you  turn  with  me  with  your  faces 
to  the  future,  quickened  by  the  memories  of  the  past,  but 
with  nothing  to  do  with  the  contests  of  the  past,  knowing, 


36        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1914 

as  we  have  shed  our  blood  upon  opposite  sides,  we  now  face 
and  admire  one  another.  I  do  not  know  how  many  years  ago 
it  was  that  the  Century  Dictionary  was  published,  but  I 
remember  one  day  in  the  Century  Cyclopedia  of  Names  I 
had  occasion  to  turn  to  the  name  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  I 
found  him  there  in  that  book  published  in  New  York  City 
simply  described  as  a  great  American  general.  The  generos- 
ity of  our  judgments  did  not  begin  to-day.  The  generosity 
of  our  judgment  was  made  up  soon  after  this  great  struggle 
was  over.  Men  came  and  sat  together  again  in  the  Con- 
gress and  united  in  all  the  efforts  of  peace  and  of  govern- 
ment, and  our  solemn  duty  is  to  see  that  each  one  of  us  is 
in  his  own  consciousness  and  in  his  own  conduct  a  replica  of 
this  great  reunited  people.  It  is  our  duty  and  our  privilege 
to  be  like  the  country  we  represent  and,  speaking  no  word  of 
malice,  no  word  of  criticism  even,  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder 
to  lift  the  burdens  of  mankind  in  the  future  and  show  the 
paths  of  freedom  to  all  the  world. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


14.    THE  NAVAL  SERVICE 

(June  5,  1914) 

Address  at  the  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis 

During  the  greater  part  of  my  life  I  have  been  associated 
with  young  men,  and  on  occasions  it  seems  to  me  without 
number  have  faced  bodies  of  youngsters  going  out  to  take 
part  in  the  activities  of  the  world,  but  I  have  a  consciousness 
of  a  different  significance  in  this  occasion  from  that  which  I 
have  felt  on  other  similar  occasions.  When  I  have  faced  the 
graduating  classes  at  universities  I  have  felt  that  I  was  facing 
a  great  conjecture.  They  were  going  out  into  all  sorts  of  pur- 
suits and  with  every  degree  of  preparation  for  the  particular 
thing  they  were  expecting  to  do;  some  without  any  prepara- 
tion at  all,  for  they  did  not  know  what  they  expected  to  do. 
But  in  facing  you  I  am  facing  men  who  are  trained  for  a 
sp>ecial  thing.    You  know  what  you  are  going  to  do,  and  you 


June  5]  THE  NAVAL  SERVICE  37 

are  under  the  eye  of  the  whole  Nation  in  doing  it.  For  you, 
gentlemen,  are  to  be  part  of  the  power  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  There  is  a  very  deep  and  solemn  signifi- 
cance in  that  fact,  and  I  am  sure  that  every  one  of  you  feels 
it.  The  moral  is  perfectly  obvious.  Be  ready  and  fit  for 
anything  that  you  have  to  do.  And  keep  ready  and  fit. 
Do  not  grow  slack.  Do  not  suppose  that  your  education  is 
over  because  you  have  received  your  diplomas  from  the 
academy.  Your  education  has  just  begun.  Moreover,  you 
are  to  have  a  very  peculiar  privilege  which  not  many  of  your 
predecessors  have  had.  You  are  yourselves  going  to  become 
teachers.  You  are  going  to  teach  those  50,000  fellow  coun- 
trymen of  yours  who  are  the  enlisted  men  of  the  Navy.  You 
are  going  to  make  them  fitter  to  obey  your  orders  and  to 
serve  the  country.  You  are  going  to  make  them  fitter  to  see 
what  the  orders  mean  in  their  outlook  upon  life  and  upon  the 
service;  and  that  is  a  great  privilege,  for  out  of  you  is  going 
the  energy  and  mtelligence  which  are  going  to  quicken  the 
whole  body  of  the  United  States  Navy.  *  *  * 

It  ought  to  be  one  of  your  thoughts  all  the  time  that  you 
are  sample  Americans — ^not  merely  sample  Navy  men,  not 
merely  sample  soldiers,  but  sample  Americans — and  that  you 
have  the  point  of  view  of  America  with  regard  to  her  Navy 
and  her  Army;  that  she  is  using  them  as  the  instruments  of 
civilization,  not  as  the  instruments  of  aggression.  The  idea 
of  America  is  to  serve  humanity,  and  every  time  you  let  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  free  to  the  wind  you  ought  to  realize  that 
that  is  in  itself  a  message  that  you  are  on  an  errand  which 
other  navies  have  sometimes  forgotten;  not  an  errand  of 
conquest,  but  an  errand  of  service.  I  always  have  the  same 
thought  when  I  look  at  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  for  I 
know  something  of  the  history  of  the  struggle  of  mankind 
for  liberty.  When  I  look  at  that  flag  it  seems  to  me  as  if  the 
white  stripes  were  strips  of  parchment  upon  which  are  writ- 
ten the  rights  of  man,  and  the  red  stripes  the  streams  or 
blood  by  which  those  rights  have  been  made  good.  Then  in 
the  little  blue  firmament  in  the  comer  have  swung  out  the 
stars  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union.  So,  it  is,  as  it 
were,  a  sort  of  floating  charter  that  has  come  down  to  us 
from  Runnymede,  when  men  said,  "We  will  not  have  mas- 


38        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

ters;  we  will  be  a  people,  and  we  will  seek  our  own  liberty." 
You  are  not  serving  a  government,  gentlemen;  you  are 
serving  a  people.  For  we  who  for  the  time  being  constitute 
the  Government  are  merely  instruments  for  a  little  while  in 
the  hands  of  a  great  Nation  which  chooses  whom  it  will  to 
carry  out  its  decrees  and  who  invariably  rejects  the  man  who 
forgets  the  ideals  which  it  intended  him  to  serve.  So  that  I 
hope  that  wherever  you  go  you  will  have  a  generous,  compre- 
hending love  of  the  people  you  come  into  contact  with,  and 
will  come  back  and  tell  us,  if  you  can,  what  service  the 
United  States  can  render  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world; 
tell  us  where  you  see  men  suffering;  tell  us  where  you  think 
advice  will  lift  them  up;  tell  us  where  you  think  that  the 
counsel  of  statesmen  may  better  the  fortunes  of  unfortunate 
men;  always  having  it  in  mind  that  you  are  champions  of 
what  is  ri^t  and  fair  all  'round  for  the  public  welfare,  no 
matter  where  you  are,  and  that  it  is  that  you  are  ready  to 
fight  for  and  not  merely  on  the  drop  of  a  hat  or  upon  some 
slight  punctillio,  but  that  you  are  champions  of  your  fellow 
men,  particularly  of  that  great  body  one  hundred  million 
strong  whom  you  represent  in  the  United  States.  *  *  * 

I  challenge  you  youngsters  to  go  out  with  these  concep- 
tions, knowing  that  you  are  part  of  the  Government  and 
force  of  the  United  States  and  that  men  will  judge  us  by 
you.  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  verdict.  I  can  not  look  in  your 
faces  and  doubt  what  it  will  be,  but  I  want  you  to  take 
these  great  engines  of  force  out  onto  the  seas  like  advoi- 
turers  enlisted  for  the  elevation  of  the  spirit  of  the  human 
race.  For  that  is  the  only  distinction  that  America  has. 
Other  nations  have  been  strong,  other  nations  have  piled 
wealth  as  high  as  the  sky,  but  they  have  come  into  disgrace 
because  they  used  their  force  and  their  wealth  for  the  op- 
pression of  mankind  and  their  own  aggrandizement;  and 
America  will  not  bring  glory  to  herself,  but  disgrace,  by  fol- 
lowing the  beaten  paths  of  history.  We  must  strike  out  upon 
new  paths,  and  we  must  count  upon  you  gentlemen  to  be  the 
explorers  who  will  carry  this  spirit  and  spread  this  message 
all  over  the  seas  and  in  every  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

You  see,  therefore,  why  I  said  that  when  I  faced  you  I 
felt  there  was  a  special  significance.    I  am  not  present  on  an 


June  5]  THE  NAVAL  SERVICE  39 

occasion  when  you  are  about  to  scatter  on  various  errands. 
You  are  all  going  on  the  same  errand,  and  I  like  to  feel  bound 
with  you  in  one  common  organization  for  the  glory  of  Amer- 
ica. And  her  glory  goes  deeper  than  all  the  tinsel,  goes 
deeper  than  the  sound  of  guns  and  the  clash  of  sabers;  it 
goes  down  to  the  very  foundation  of  those  things  that  have 
made  the  spirit  of  men  free  and  happy  and  content. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 

15.    AMERICA  AS  A  WORLD  POWER 

(July  4,  1914) 

Address  at  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia 

*  *  *  In  one  sense  the  Declaration  of  Independence  has 
lost  its  significance.  It  has  lost  its  significance  as  a  declara- 
tion of  national  independence.  Nobody  outside  of  America 
believed  when  it  was  uttered  that  we  could  make  good  our 
independence;  now  nobody  anywhere  would  dare  to  doubt 
that  we  are  independent  and  can  maintain  our  independence. 
As  a  declaration  of  independence,  therefore,  it  is  a  mere  his- 
toric document.  Our  independence  is  a  fact  so  stupendous 
that  it  can  be  measured  only  by  the  size  and  energy  and 
variety  and  wealth  and  power  of  one  of  the  greatest  nations 
in  the  world.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  be  independent  and  it  is 
another  thing  to  know  what  to  do  with  your  independence. 
It  is  one  thing  to  come  to  your  majority  and  another  thing  to 
know  what  you  are  going  to  do  with  your  life  and  your  ener- 
gies; and  one  of  the  most  serious  questions  for  sober-minded 
men  to  address  themselves  to  in  the  United  States  is  this: 
What  are  we  going  to  do  with  the  influence  and  power  of  this 
great  Nation?  Are  we  going  to  play  the  old  role  of  using 
that  power  for  our  aggrandizement  and  material  benefit 
only?  You  know  what  that  may  mean.  It  may  upon  occa- 
sion mean  that  we  shall  use  it  to  make  the  peoples  of  other 
nations  suffer  in  the  way  in  which  we  said  it  was  intolerable 
to  suffer  when  we  uttered  our  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  Department  of  State  at  Washington  is  constanth 
called  upon  to  back  up  the  commercial  enterprises  and  the 


40        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

industrial  enterprises  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  it  at  one  time  went  so  far  in  that  direction  that 
all  its  diplomacy  came  to  be  designated  as  "dollar  di- 
plomacy." It  was  called  upon  to  support  every  man  who 
wanted  to  earn  anything  anywhere  if  he  was  an  American. 
But  there  ought  to  be  a  limit  to  that.  There  is  no  man  who 
is  more  interested  than  I  am  in  carrying  the  enterprise  of 
American  business  men  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  I  was 
interested  in  it  long  before  I  was  suspected  of  being  a  poli- 
tician. I  have  been  preaching  it  year  after  year  as  the  great 
thing  that  lay  in  the  future  for  the  United  States,  to  show  her 
wit  and  skill  and  enterprise  and  influence  in  every  country 
in  the  world.  But  observe  the  limit  to  all  that  which  is  laid 
upon  us  perhaps  more  than  upon  any  other  nation  in  the 
world.  We  set  this  Nation  up,  at  any  rate  we  professed  to 
set  it  up,  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  men.  We  did  not  name 
any  differences  betv/een  one  race  and  another.  We  did  not 
set  up  any  barriers  against  any  particular  people.  We 
opened  our  gates  to  all  the  world  and  said,  "Let  all  men  who 
wish  to  be  free  come  to  us  and  they  will  be  welcome."  We 
said,  "This  independence  of  ours  is  not  a  selfish  thing  for 
our  own  exclusive  private  use.  It  is  for  everybody  to  whom 
we  can  find  the  means  of  extending  it."  We  can  not  with 
that  oath  taken  in  our  youth,  we  can  not  with  that  great  ideal 
set  before  us  when  we  were  a  young  people  and  numbered 
only  a  scant  3,000,000,  take  upon  ourselves,  now  that  we  are 
100,000,000  strong,  any  other  conception  of  duty  than  w^e 
then  entertained.  If  American  enterprise  in  foreign  countries, 
particularly  in  those  foreign  countries  which  are  not  strong 
enough  to  resist  us,  takes  the  shape  of  imposing  upon  and 
exploiting  the  mass  of  the  people  of  that  country  it  ought  to 
be  checked  and  not  encouraged.  I  am  willing  to  get  anything 
for  an  American  that  money  and  enterprise  can  obtain  except 
the  suppression  of  the  rights  of  other  men.  I  will  not  help 
any  man  buy  a  power  which  he  ought  not  to  exercise  over  his 
fellow  beings. 

You  know,  my  fellow  countrymen,  what  a  big  question 
there  is  in  Mexico.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  Mexican 
people  have  never  been  allowed  to  have  any  genuine  partici- 
pation in  their  own  Government  or  to  exercise  any  substan- 


July  4]      AMERICA  AS  A  WORLD   POWER  41 

tial  rights  with  regard  to  the  very  land  they  live  upon.  All 
the  rights  that  men  most  desire  have  been  exercised  by  the 
other  15  per  cent.  Do  you  suppose  that  that  circumstance  is 
not  sometimes  in  my  thought?  I  know  that  the  American 
people  have  a  heart  that  will  beat  just  as  strong  for  those 
millions  in  Mexico  as  it  will  beat,  or  has  beaten,  for  any 
other  millions  elsewhere  in  the  world,  and  that  when  once 
they  conceive  what  is  at  stake  in  Mexico  they  will  know  what 
ought  to  be  done  in  Mexico.  I  hear  a  great  deal  said  about 
the  loss  of  property  in  Mexico  and  the  loss  of  the  lives  of 
foreigners,  and  I  deplore  these  things  with  all  my  heart. 
Undoubtedly,  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  present  disturbed 
conditions  in  Mexico  those  who  have  been  unjustly  deprived 
of  their  property  or  in  any  wise  im justly  put  upon  ought  to 
be  compensated.  Men's  individual  rights  have  no  doubt  been 
invaded,  and  the  invasion  of  those  rights  has  been  attended 
by  many  deplorable  circumstances  which  ought  sometime, 
in  the  proper  way,  be  accounted  for.  But  back  of  it  all  is  the 
struggle  of  a  people  to  come  into  its  own,  and  while  we  look 
upon  the  incidents  in  the  foregroimd  let  us  not  forget  the 
great  tragic  reality  in  the  background  which  towers  above  the 
whole  picture. 

A  patriotic  American  is  a  man  who  is  not  niggardly  and 
selfish  in  the  things  that  he  enjoys  that  make  for  human  lib- 
erty and  the  rights  of  man.  He  wants  to  share  them  with 
the  whole  world,  and  he  is  never  so  proud  of  the  great  flag 
under  which  he  lives  as  when  it  comes  to  mean  to  other 
people  as  well  as  to  himself  a  symbol  of  hope  and  liberty.  I 
woiild  be  ashamed  of  this  flag  if  it  ever  did  anything  outside 
America  that  we  would  not  permit  it  to  do  inside  of  America. 

The  world  is  becoming  more  complicated  every  day,  my 
fellow  citizens.  No  man  ought  to  be  foolish  enough  to  think 
that  he  understands  it  all.  And,  therefore,  I  am  glad  that 
there  are  some  simple  things  in  the  world.  One  of  the  simple 
things  is  principle.  Honesty  is  a  perfectly  simple  thing.  It 
is  hard  for  me  to  believe  that  in  most  circumstances  when  a 
man  has  a  choice  of  ways  he  does  not  know  which  is  the  right 
way  and  which  is  the  wrong  way.  No  man  who  has  chosen 
the  wrong  way  ought  even  to  come  into  Independence 
Square;  it  is  holy  ground  which  he  ought  not  to  tread  upon. 


42        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

He  ought  not  to  come  where  immortal  voices  have  uttered 
the  great  sentences  of  such  a  document  as  this  Declaration 
of  Independence  upon  which  rests  the  liberty  of  a  whole 
nation. 

And  so  I  say  that  it  is  patriotic  sometimes  to  prefer  the 
honor  of  the  country  to  its  material  interest.  Would  you 
rather  be  deemed  by  all  the  nations  of  the  world  incapable 
of  keeping  your  treaty  obligations  in  order  that  you  might 
have  free  tolls  for  American  ships?  The  treaty  under  which 
y^e  gave  up  that  right  may  have  been  a  mistaken  treaty,  but 
there  was  no  mistake  about  its  meaning. 

When  I  have  made  a  promise  as  a  man  I  try  to  keep  it, 
and  I  know  of  no  other  rule  permissible  to  a  nation.  The 
most  distinguished  nation  in  the  world  is  the  nation  that  can 
and  will  keep  its  promises  even  to  its  own  hurt.  And  I  want 
to  say  parenthetically  that  I  do  not  think  anybody  was  hurt. 
I  can  not  be  enthusiastic  for  subsidies  to  a  monopoly,  but 
let  those  who  are  enthusiastic  for  subsidies  ask  themselves 
whether  they  prefer  subsidies  to  unsullied  honor. 

The  most  patriotic  man,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  sometimes 
the  man  who  goes  in  the  direction  that  he  thinks  right  even 
when  he  sees  half  the  v^orld  against  him.  It  is  the  dictate  of 
patriotism  to  sacrifice  yourself  if  you  think  that  that  is  the 
path  of  honor  and  of  duty.  Do  not  blame  others  if  they  do 
not  agree  with  you.  Do  not  die  with  bitterness  in  your  heart 
because  you  did  not  convince  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  die 
happy  because  you  believe  that  you  tried  to  serve  your  coun- 
try by  not  selling  your  soul.  Those  were  grim  days,  the  days 
of  1776.  Those  gentlemen  did  not  attach  their  names  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  this  table  expecting  a 
holiday  on  the  next  day,  and  that  4th  of  July  was  not  itself 
a  holiday.  They  attached  their  signatures  to  that  significant 
document  knowing  that  if  they  failed  it  was  certain  that 
every  one  of  them  would  hang  for  the  failure.  They  were 
committing  treason  in  the  interest  of  the  liberty  of  3,000,000 
people  in  America.  All  the  rest  of  the  world  was  against  them 
and  smiled  with  cynical  incredulity  at  the  audacious  imder- 
taking.  Do  you  think  that  if  they  could  see  this  great  Nation 
now  they  would  regret  anything  that  they  then  did  to  draw 
the  gaze  of  a  hostile  world  upon  them?    Every  idea  must  be 


July  4]      AMERICA  AS  A  WORLD   POWER  43 

started  by  somebody,  and  it  is  a  lonely  thing  to  start  any- 
thing. Yet  if  it  is  in  you,  you  must  start  it  if  you  have  a 
man's  blood  in  you  and  if  you  love  the  country  that  you  pro- 
fess to  be  working  for. 

I  am  sometimes  very  much  interested  when  I  see  gentlemen 
supposing  that  popularity  is  the  way  to  success  in  America. 
The  way  to  success  in  this  great  country,  with  its  fair  jud'g- 
ments,  is  to  show  that  you  are  not  afraid  of  anybody  except 
God  and  his  final  verdict.  If  I  did  not  believe  that,  I  would 
not  believe  in  democracy.  If  I  did  not  believe  that,  I  would 
not  believe  that  people  can  govern  themselves.  If  I  did  not 
believe  that  the  moral  judgment  would  be  the  last  judgment, 
the  final  judgment,  in  the  minds  of  men  as  well  as  the  tri- 
bunal of  God,  I  could  not  believe  in  popular  government. 
But  I  do  believe  these  things,  and,  therefore,  I  earnestly 
believe  in  the  democracy  not  only  of  America  but  of  every 
awakened  people  that  wishes  and  intends  to  govern  and  con- 
trol its  own  affairs. 

It  is  very  inspiring,  my  friends,  to  come  to  this  that  may 
be  called  the  original  fountain  of  independence  and  liberty 
in  America  and  here  drink  draughts  of  patriotic  feeling  which 
seem  to  renew  the  very  blood  in  one's  veins.  Down  in  Wash- 
ington sometimes  when  the  days  are  hot  and  the  business 
presses  intolerably  and  there  are  so  many  things  to  do  that 
it  does  not  seem  possible  to  do  anything  in  the  way  it  ought 
to  be  done,  it  is  always  possible  to  lift  one's  thoughts  above 
the  task  of  the  nwment  and,  as  it  were,  to  realize  that  great 
thing  of  which  we  are  all  parts,  the  great  body  of  American 
feeling  and  American  principle.  No  man  could  do  the  work 
that  has  to  be  done  in  Washington  if  he  allowed  himself  to 
be  separated  from  that  body  of  principle.  He  must  make 
himself  feel  that  he  is  a  part  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  that  he  is  trying  to  think  not  only  for  them,  but  with 
them,  and  then  he  can  not  feel  lonely.  He  not  only  can 
not  feel  lonely  but  he  can  not  feel  afraid  of  anything. 

My  dream  is  that  as  the  years  go  on  and  the  world  knows 
more  and  more  of  America  it  will  also  drink  at  these  foun- 
tains of  youth  and  renewal ;  that  it  also  will  turn  to  America 
for  those  moral  inspirations  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  free- 
<^m;  that  the  world  will  never  fear  America  imless  it  feels 


44        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

that  it  is  engaged  in  some  enterprise  which  is  inconsistent 
with  the  rights  of  humanity;  and  that  America  will  come 
into  the  full  light  of  the  day  when  all  shall  know  that  she 
puts  human  rights  above  all  other  rights  and  that  her  flag 
is  the  flag  not  only  of  America  but  of  humanity. 

What  other  great  people  has  devoted  itself  to  this  exalted 
ideal?  To  what  other  nation  in  the  worid  can  all  eyes  look 
for  an  instant  sympathy  that  thrills  the  whole  body  politic 
when  men  anywhere  are  fighting  for  their  rights?  I  do  not 
know  that  there  will  ever  be  a  declaration  of  independence 
and  of  grievances  for  mankind,  but  I  believe  that  if  any  such 
document  is  ever  drawn  it  will  be  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  that  America  has 
lifted  high  the  light  which  will  shine  unto  all  generations  and 
guide  the  feet  of  mankind  to  the  goal  of  justice  and  liberty 
and  peace. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


16.    NEUTRALITY  OF  FEELING 

(August  18,  1914) 
A  Presidential  Proclamation 

I  suppose  that  every  thoughtful  man  in  America  has  asked 
himself,  during  these  last  troubled  weeks,  what  influence  the 
European  war  may  exert  upon  the  United  States,  and  I  take 
the  liberty  of  addressing  a  few  words  to  you  in  order  to  point 
out  that  it  is  entirely  within  our  own  choice  what  its  effects 
upon  us  will  be  and  to  urge  very  earnestly  upon  you  the  sort 
of  speech  and  conduct  which  will  best  safeguard  the  Nation 
against  distress  and  disaster. 

The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  United  States  will  depend 
upon  what  American  citizens  say  and  do.  Every  man  who 
really  loves  America  will  act  and  speak  in  the  true  spirit  of 
neutrality,  which  is  the  spirit  of  impartiality  and  fairness  and 
friendliness  to  all  concerned.    The  spirit  of  the  Nation  in  this 


Aug.  i8]  NEUTRALITY  OF  FEELING  45 

critical  matter  will  be  determined  largely  by  what  individuals 
and  society  and  those  gathered  in  public  meetings  do  and 
say,  upon  what  newspapers  and  magazines  contain,  upon 
what  ministers  utter  in  their  pulpits,  and  men  proclaim  as 
their  opinions  on  the  street. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  drawn  from  many 
nations,  and  chiefly  from  the  nations  now  at  war.  It  is 
natural  and  inevitable  that  there  should  be  the  utmost  variety 
of  sympathy  and  desire  among  them  with  regard  to  the  issues 
and  circumstances  of  the  conflict.  Some  will  wish  one  nation, 
others  another,  to  succeed  in  the  momentous  struggle.  It 
will  be  easy  to  excite  passion  and  difficult  to  allay  it.  Those 
responsible  for  exciting  it  will  assume  a  heavy  responsibility, 
responsibility  for  no  less  a  thing  than  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  whose  love  of  their  country  and  whose  loyalty 
to  its  Government  should  unite  them  as  Americans  all,  bound 
in  honor  and  affection  to  think  first  of  her  and  her  interests, 
may  be  divided  in  camps  of  hostile  opinion,  hot  against  each 
other,  involved  in  the  war  itself  in  impulse  and  opinion  if 
not  in  action. 

Such  divisions  among  us  would  be  fatal  to  our  peace  of 
mind  and  might  seriously  stand  in  the  way  of  the  proper 
performance  of  our  duty  as  the  one  great  nation  at  peace, 
the  one  people  holding  itself  ready  to  play  a  part  of  impar- 
tial mediation  and  speak  the  counsels  of  peace  and  accommo- 
dation, not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a  friend. 

I  venture,  therefore,  my  fellow  countrymen,  to  speak  a 
solemn  word  of  warning  to  you  against  that  deepest,  most 
subtle,  most  essential  breach  of  neutrality  which  may  spring 
out  of  partisanship,  out  of  passionately  taking  sides.  The 
United  States  must  be  neutral  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  dur- 
ing these  days  that  are  to  try  men's  souls.  We  must  be 
impartial  in  thought  as  well  as  in  action,  must  put  a  curb 
upon  our  sentiments  as  well  as  upon  every  transaction  that 
might  be  construed  as  a  preference  of  one  party  to  the  strug- 
gle before  another. 

My  thought  is  of  America.  I  am  speaking,  I  feel  sure, 
the  earnest  wish  and  purpose  of  every  thoughtful  American 
that  this  great  country  of  ours,  which  is,  of  course,  the  first 
in  our  thoughts  and  in  our  hearts,  should  show  herself  in  this 


46       ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

time  of  peculiar  trial  a  Nation  fit  beyond  others  to  exhibit 
the  fine  poise  of  undisturbed  judgment,  the  dignity  of  self- 
control,  the  efficiency  of  dispassionate  action;  a  Nation  that 
neither  sits  in  judgment  upon  others  nor  is  disturbed  in  her 
own  counsels  and  which  keeps  herself  fit  and  free  to  do  what 
is  honest  and  disinterested  and  truly  serviceable  for  the  peace 
of  the  world. 

Shall  we  not  resolve  to  put  upon  ourselves  the  restraints 
which  will  bring  to  our  people  the  happiness  and  the  great  and 
lasting  influence  for  peace  we  covet  for  them? 

Department  of  State,  White  Book,  No.  II,  17. 


[ij,    INTERNATIONAL  AND  MUNICIPAL  LAW 

(October  20,  1914) 
Address  before  the  American  Bar  Association 

*  *  *  We  stand  now  in  a  peculiar  case.  Our  first  thought, 
I  suppose,  as  lawyers,  is  of  international  law,  of  those  bonds 
of  right  and  principle  which  draw  the  nations  together  and 
hold  the  community  of  the  world  to  some  standards  of  ac- 
tion. We  know  that  we  see  in  international  law,  as  it  were, 
the  moral  processes  by  which  law  itself  came  into  existence. 
I  know  that  as  a  lawyer  I  have  myself  at  times  felt  that  there 
was  no  real  comparison  between  the  law  of  a  nation  and  the 
law  of  nations,  because  the  latter  lacked  the  sanction  that 
gave  the  former  strength  and  validity.  And  yet,  if  you  look 
into  the  matter  more  closely,  you  will  find  that  the  two  have 
the  same  foimdations,  and  that  those  foundations  are  more 
evident  and  conspicuous  in  our  day  than  they  have  ever  been 
before. 

The  opinion  of  the  world  .is  the  mistress  of  the  world; 
and  the  processes  of  international  law  are  the  slow  processes 
by  which  opinion  works  its  will.  What  impresses  me  is  the 
constant  thought  that  that  is  the  tribunal  at  the  bar  of  which 


Oct.  20]  INTERNATIONAL  AND  MUNICIPAL  LAW  47 

we  all  sit.  I  would  call  your  attention,  incidentally,  to  the 
circumstance  that  it  does  not  observe  the  ordinary  rules  of 
evidence;  which  has  sometimes  suggested  to  me  that  the  or- 
dinary rules  of  evidence  had  shown  some  signs  of  growing 
antique.  Everything,  rumor  included,  is  heard  in  this  court, 
and  the  standard  of  judgment  is  not  so  much  the  character 
of  the  testimony  as  the  character  of  the  witness.  The  mo- 
tives are  disclosed,  the  purposes  are  conjectured,  and  that 
opinion  is  finally  accepted  which  seems  to  be,  not  the  best 
founded  in  law,  perhaps,  but  the  best  foxmded  in  integrity  of 
character  and  of  morals.  That  is  the  process  which  is  slowly 
working  its  will  upon  the  world;  and  what  we  should  be 
watchful  of  is  not  so  much  jealous  interests  as  sound  prin- 
ciples of  action.  The  disinterested  course  is  always  the  big- 
gest course  to  pursue  not  only,  but  it  is  in  the  long  nm  the 
most  profitable  course  to  pursue.  If  you  can  establish  your 
character,  you  can  establish  your  credit. 

What  I  wanted  to  suggest  to  this  association,  in  bidding 
them  very  hearty  welcome  to  the  city,  is  whether  we  suf- 
ficiently apply  these  same  ideas  to  the  body  of  municipal  law 
which  we  seek  to  administer.  Citations  seem  to  play  so  much 
larger  a  role  now  than  principle.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  thoughtful  eye  of  the  judge  rested  upon  the  changes  of 
social  circumstances  and  almost  palpably  saw  the  law  arise 
out  of  human  life.  Have  we  got  to  a  time  when  the  only 
way  to  change  law  is  by  statute?  The  changing  of  law  by 
statute  seems  to  me  like  mending  a  garment  with  a  patch, 
whereas  law  should  grow  by  the  life  that  is  in  it,  not  by  the 
life  that  is  outside  of  it. 

I  once  said  to  a  lawyer  with  whom  I  was  discussing  some 
question  of  precedent,  and  in  whose  presence  I  was  ventur- 
ing to  doubt  the  rational  validity,  at  any  rate,  of  the  particu- 
lar precedents  he  cited,  "After  all,  isn't  our  object  justice?" 
And  he  said,  "God  forbid!  We  should  be  very  much  con- 
fused if  we  made  that  our  standard.  Our  standard  is  to  find 
out  what  the  rule  has  been  and  how  the  rule  that  has  been 
applies  to  the  case  that  is."  I  should  hate  to  think  that 
the  law  was  based  entirely  upon  "has  beens."  I  should  hate 
to  think  that  the  law  did  not  derive  its  impulse  from  looking 
forward  rather  than  from  looking  backward,  or,  rather,  that 


48        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WII^SOM    [19 14 

it  did  not  derive  its  instruction  from  looking  about  and  seeing 
what  the  circumstances  of  man  actually  ^e  and  what  the 
impulses  of  justice  necessarily  are. 

Understand  me,  gentlemen,  I  am  not  venturing  in  this 
presence  to  impeach  the  law.  For  tb^  present,  by  the  force 
of  circumstances,  I  am  in  part  the  embodiment  of  the  law,  and 
it  would  be  very  awkward  to  disavow  myself.  But  I  do  wish 
to  make  this  intimation,  that  in  this  time  of  world  change,  in 
this  time  when  we  are  going  to  find  out  just  how,  in  what 
particulars,  and  to  what  extent  the  real  facts  of  human  life 
and  the  real  moral  judgments  of  mankind  prevail,  it  is  worth 
while  looking  inside  our  municipal  law  and  seeing  whether  the 
judgments  of  the  law  are  made  square  with  the  moral  judg- 
ments of  mankind.  For  I  believe  that  we  are  custodians, 
not  of  commands,  but  of  a  spirit.  We  are  custodians  of  the 
spirit  of  righteousness,  of  the  spirit  of  equal-handed  justice, 
of  the  spirit  of  hope  which  believes  in  the  perfectibility  of  the 
law  wJth  the  perfectibility  of  human  life  itself. 

Public  life,  like  private  life,  would  be  very  dull  and  dry  if 
h  were  not  for  this  belief  in  the  essential  beauty  of  the  human 
spirit  and  the  belief  that  the  human  spirit  could  be  translated 
into  action  and  into  ordinance.  Not  entire.  You  can  not  go 
any  faster  than  you  can  advance  the  average  moral  judg- 
ments of  the  mass,  but  you  can  go  at  least  as  fast  as  that, 
and  you  can  see  to  it  that  you  do  not  lag  behind  the  average 
moral  judgments  of  the  mass.  I  have  in  my  life  dealt  with 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  I  have  found  that  the 
flame  of  moral  judgment  burned  just  as  bright  in  the  man  of 
humble  life  and  limited  experience  as  in  the  scholar  and  the 
man  of  affairs.  And  I  would  like  his  voice  always  to  be 
heard,  not  as  a  witness,  not  as  speaking  in  his  own  case,  but 
as  if  he  were  the  voice  of  men  in  general,  in  our  courts  of 
justice,  as  well  as  the  voice  of  the  lawyers,  remembering  what 
the  law  has  been.  My  hope  is  that,  being  stirred  to  the 
depths  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  time  in 
which  we  live,  we  may  recover  from  those  depths  something 
of  a  renewal  of  that  vision  of  the  law  with  which  men  may  be 
supposed  to  have  started  out  in  the  old  days  of  the  oracles, 
who  communed  with  the  intimations  of  divinity. 

White  House  Pamphlet    , 


Oct.  24]  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  49 

18.   THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN 
ASSOCIATION 

(October  24,  19 14) 

Address  Before  the  American  Bar  Association 

*  *  *  I  am  interested  in  [this  organization]  *  *  *  for 
various  reasons.  First  of  all,  because  it  is  an  association  for 
young  men.  I  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  young  men 
in  my  time,  and  I  have  formed  an  impression  of  Ihem  which 
I  believe  to  be  contrary  to  the  general  impression.  They  are 
generally  thought  to  be  arch  radicals.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  are  the  most  conservative  people  I  have  ever  dealt  with. 
Go  to  a  college  community  and  try  to  change  the  least  cus- 
tom of  that  little  world  and  find  how  the  conservatives  will 
rush  at  you.  Moreover,  young  men  are  embarrassed  by  hav- 
ing inherited  their  fathers'  opinions.  I  have  often  said  that 
the  use  of  a  university  is  to  make  young  gentlemen  as  unlike 
their  fathers  as  possible.  I  do  not  say  that  with  the  least 
disrespect  for  the  fathers;  but  every  man  who  is  old  enough 
to  have  a  son  in  college  is  old  enough  to  have  become  very 
seriously  immersed  in  some  particular  business  and  is  almost 
certain  to  have  caught  the  point  of  view  of  that  particular 
business.  And  it  is  very  useful  to  his  son  to  be  taken  out  of 
that  narrow  circle,  conducted  to  some  high  place  where  he 
may  see  the  general  map  of  the  world  and  of  the  interests  of 
mankind,  and  there  shown  how  big  the  world  is  and  how 
much  of  it  his  father  may  happen  to  have  forgotten.  It  would 
be  worth  while  for  men,  middle-aged  and  old,  to  detach  them- 
selves more  frequently  from  the  things  that  command  their 
daily  attention  and  to  think  of  the  sweeping  tides  of  hu- 
manity. 

Therefore  I  am  interested  in  this  association,  because  it  is 
intended  to  bring  young  men  together  before  any  crust  has 
formed  over  them,  before  they  have  been  hardened  to  any 
particular  occupation,  before  they  have  caught  an  inveterate 
point  of  view;  while  they  still  have  a  searchlight  that  they 
can  swing  and  see  what  it  reveals  of  all  the  circumstances  of 
the  hidden  world. 

I  am  the  more  interested  in  it  because  it  is  an  association 


50        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1914 

of  young  men  who  are  Christians.  I  wonder  if  we  attach 
sufficient  importance  to  Christianity  as  a  mere  instrumental- 
ity in  the  life  of  mankind.  For  one,  I  am  not  fond  of  think- 
ing of  Christianity  as  the  means  of  saving  individual  souls. 
I  have  always  been  very  impatient  of  processes  and  institu- 
tions which  said  that  their  purpose  was  to  put  every  man  in 
the  way  of  developing  his  diaracter.  My  advice  is:  Do  not 
think  about  your  character.  If  you  will  think  about  what 
you  ought  to  do  for  other  people,  your  character  will  take 
care  of  itself.  Character  is  a  by-product,  and  any  man  who 
devotes  himself  to  its  cultivation  in  his  own  case  will  become 
a  selfish  prig.  The  only  way  your  powers  can  become  great 
is  by  exerting  them  outside  the  circle  of  your  own  narrow, 
special,  selfish  interests.  And  that  is  the  reason  of  Chris- 
tianity. Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  others,  not  to 
save  himself;  and  no  man  is  a  true  Christian  who  does  not 
think  constantly  of  how  he  can  lift  his  brother,  how  he  can 
assist  his  friend,  how  he  can  enlighten  mankind,  how  he  can 
make  virtue  the  rule  of  conduct  in  the  circle  in  which  he  lives. 
An  association  merely  of  young  men  might  be  an  association 
that  had  its  energies  put  forth  in  every  direction,  but  an  as- 
sociation of  Christian  young  men  is  an  association  meant  to 
put  its  shoulders  under  the  world  and  lift  it,  so  that  other 
men  may  feel  that  they  have  companions  in  bearing  the 
weight  and  heat  of  the  day;  that  other  men  may  know  that 
there  are  those  who  care  for  them,  who  would  go  into  places 
of  difficulty  and  danger  to  rescue  them,  who  regard  them- 
selves as  their  brother's  keeper. 

And,  then,  I  am  glad  that  it  is  an  association.  Every 
word  of  its  title  means  an  element  of  strength.  Young  men 
are  strong.  Christian  young  men  are  the  strongest  kind  of 
young  men,  and  when  they  associate  themselves  together  they 
have  the  incomparable  strength  of  organization.  The  Yoimg 
Men's  Christian  Association  once  excited,  perhaps  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say,  the  hostility  of  the  organized  churches  of 
the  Christian  world,  because  the  movement  looked  as  if  it 
were  so  nonsectarian,  as  if  it  were  so  outside  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal field,  that  perhaps  it  was  an  effort  to  draw  yoimg  men 
away  from  the  churches  and  to  substitute  this  organization 
for  the  great  bodies  of  Christian  people  who  joined  them- 


Oct.  24]  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  51 

selves  in  the  Christian  denominations.  But  after  a  while  it 
appeared  that  it  was  a  great  instrumentality  that  belonged  to 
all  the  churches;  that  it  was  a  common  instrument  for  send- 
ing the  light  of  Christianity  out  into  the  world  in  its  most 
practical  form,  drawing  yoimg  men  who  were  strangers  into 
places  where  they  could  have  companionship  that  stimulated 
them  and  suggestions  that  kept  them  straight  and  occupations 
that  amused  fiiem  without  vicious  practice;  and  then,  by  sur- 
rounding themselves  with  an  atmosphere  of  purity  and  of 
simplicity  of  life,  catch  something  of  a  glimpse  of  the  great 
ideal  which  Christ  lifted  when  He  was  elevated  upon  the 
cross. 

I  remember  hearing  a  very  wise  man  say  once,  a  man 
grown  old  in  the  service  of  a  great  church,  that  he  had  never 
taught  his  son  religion  dogmatically  at  any  time;  that  he 
and  the  boy's  mother  had  agreed  that  if  the  atmosphere  of 
that  home  did  not  make  a  Christian  of  the  boy,  nothing  that 
they  could  say  would  make  a  Christian  of  him.  They  knew 
that  Christianity  was  catching,  and  if  they  did  not  have  it, 
it  would  not  be  communicated.  If  they  did  have  it,  it  would 
penetrate  while  the  boy  slept,  almost;  while  he  was  uncon- 
scious of  the  sweet  influences  that  were  about  him,  while  he 
reckoned  nothing  of  instruction,  but  merely  breathed  into  his 
lungs  the  wholesome  air  of  a  Christian  home.  That  is  the 
principle  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association — to  make 
a  place  where  the  atmosphere  makes  great  ideals  contagious. 
That  is  the  reason  that  I  said,  though  I  had  forgotten  that  I 
said  it,  what  is  quoted  on  the  outer  page  of  the  program — 
that  you  can  test  a  modem  community  by  the  degree  of  its 
interest  in  its  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  You  can 
test  whether  it  knows  what  road  it  wants  to  travel  or  not. 
You  can  test  whether  it  is  deeply  interested  in  the  spiritual 
and  essential  prosperity  of  its  rising  generation.  I  know  of 
no  test  that  can  be  more  conclusively  put  to  a  conmiunity 
than  that. 

I  want  to  suggest  to  the  yoimg  men  of  this  association 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  young  men  not  only  to  combine  for 
the  things  that  are  good,  but  to  combine  in  a  militant  spirit. 
There  is  a  fine  passage  in  one  of  Milton's  prose  writings 
which  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  can  not  quote,  but  the  meaning  of 


52        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  V/ILSON     [1914 

which  I  can  give  you,  and  it  is  worth  hearing.  He  says 
that  he  has  no  patience  with  a  cloistered  virtue  that  does 
not  go  out  and  seek  its  adversary.  Ah,  how  tired  I  am  of 
the  men  who  are  merely  on  the  defensive,  who  hedge  them- 
selves in,  who  perhaps  enlarge  the  hedge  enough  to  include 
their  little  family  circle  and  ward  off  all  the  evil  influences 
of  the  world  from  that  loved  and  hallowed  group.  How 
tired  I  am  of  the  men  whose  virtue  is  selfish  because  it  is 
merely  self-protective!  How  much  I  v/ish  that  men  by  the 
hundred  might  volunteer  to  go  out  and  seek  an  adversary 
and  subdue  him! 

I  have  had  the  fortune  to  take  part  in  affairs  of  a  con- 
siderable variety  of  s  us,  and  I  have  tried  to  hate  as  few 
persons  as  possible  but  there  is  an  exquisite  combination 
of  contempt  and  hate  that  I  have  for  a  particular  kind  of 
person,  and  that  is  the  moral  coward.  I  wish  we  could 
give  all  our  cowards  a  perpetual  vacation.  Let  them  go  off 
and  sit  on  the  side  lines  and  see  us  play  the  game;  and  put 
them  oft  the  field  if  they  interfere  with  tne  game  They 
do  nothing  but  harm,  and  they  do  it  by  that  most  subtle  and 
fatal  thing  of  all^  that  of  taking  tht  momentum  and  the 
spirit  and  the  forward  dash  out  of  things.  A  man  who  is 
virtuous  and  a  coward  has  no  marketable  virtue  about  him. 
The  virtue,  I  repeat,  which  is  merely  self -defensive  is  not 
serviceable  even,  I  suspect,  to  himself  Fot  how  a  man  can 
swallow  and  not  taste  bad  when  he  is  a  coward  and  thinking 
only  of  himself  I  can  not  imagine. 

Be  militant!  Be  an  organization  that  is  going  to  do  things! 
If  you  can  find  older  men  who  will  give  you  countenance 
and  acceptable  leadership,  follow  them:  but  if  you  can  not, 
organize  separately  and  dispense  with  them.  There  are  only 
two  sorts  of  men  worth  associating  with  when  something  is 
to  be  done.  Those  are  young  men  and  men  who  never  grow 
old.  Now,  if  you  find  men  who  have  grown  old,  about  whom 
the  crust  has  hardened,  whose  hinges  are  stiff,  whose  minds 
always  have  their  eye  over  the  shoulder  thinking  of  things 
as  they  were  done,  do  not  have  anything  to  do  with  them. 
It  would  not  be  Christian  to  exclude  them  from  your  organi- 
zation, but  merely  used  them  to  pad  the  roll.  If  you  can  find 
older  men  who  will  lead  you  acceptably  and  keq)  you  in 


Oct.  24]  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  53 

countenance,  I  am  bound  as  an  older  man  to  advise  you  to 
follow  them.  But  suit  yourselves.  Do  not  follow  people 
that  stand  still.  Just  remind  them  that  this  is  not  a  statical 
proposition;  it  is  a  movement,  and  if  they  can  not  get  a 
move  on  them  they  are  not  serviceable. 

Life,  gentlemen — the  life  of  society,  the  life  of  the  world 
— ^has  constantly  to  be  fed  from  the  bottom.  It  has  to  be 
fed  by  those  great  sources  of  strength  which  are  constantly 
rising  in  new  generations.  Red  blood  has  to  be  pumped  into 
it.  New  fiber  has  to  be  supplied.  That  is  the  reason  I  have 
always  said  that  I  believed  in  popular  institutions.  If  you 
can  guess  beforehand  whom  your  rulers  are  going  to  be, 
you  can  guess  with  a  very  great  certainty  that  most  of  them 
will  not  be  fit  to  rule.  The  beauty  of  popular  institutions 
is  that  you  do  not  know  where  the  man  is  going  to  come 
from,  and  you  do  not  care  so  he  is  the  right  man.  You  do 
not  know  whether  he  will  come  from  the  avenue  or  from 
the  alley.  You  do  not  know  whether  he  will  come  from  the 
city  or  the  farm.  You  do  not  know  whether  you  will  ever 
have  heard  that  name  before  or  not.  Therefore  you  do  not 
limit  at  any  point  your  supply  of  new  strength.  You  do  not 
say  it  has  got  to  come  through  the  blood  of  a  particular 
family  or  through  the  processes  of  a  particular  training,  or 
by  anything  except  the  native  impulses  and  genius  of  the 
man  himself.  The  humblest  hovel,  therefore,  may  produce 
you  your  greatest  man.  A  very  humble  hovel  did  produce 
you  one  of  your  greatest  men.  That  is  the  process  of  life, 
this  constant  surging  up  of  the  new  strength,  of  unnamed, 
unrecognized,  uncatalogued  men  who  are  just  getting  into 
the  running,  who  are  just  coming  up  from  the  masses  of  the 
unrecognized  multitude.  You  do  not  know  when  you  will  see 
above  the  level  masses  of  the  crowd  some  great  stature 
lifted  head  and  shoulders  above  the  rest,  shouldering  its  way, 
not  violently  but  gently,  to  the  front  and  saying,  "Here  am 
I;  follow  me."  And  his  voice  will  be  your  voice,  his  thought 
will  be  your  thought,  and  you  will  follow  him  as  if  you  were 
following  the  best  things  in  yourselves. 

When  I  think  of  an  association  of  Christian  young  men  I 
wonder  that  it  has  not  already  turned  the  world  upside  down. 
I  wonder,  not  that  it  has  done  so  much,  for  it  has  done  a 


54        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

great  deal,  but  that  it  has  done  so  little;  and  I  can  only 
conjecture  that  it  does  not  realize  its  own  strength.  I  can 
only  imagine  that  it  has  not  yet  got  its  pace.  I  wish  I  could 
believe,  and  I  do  believe,  that  at  70  it  is  just  reaching  its 
majority,  and  that  from  this  time  on  a  dream  greater  even 
than  George  Williams  ever  dreamed  will  be  realized  in  the 
great  accumulating  momentum  of  Christian  men  throughout 
the  world.  For,  gentlemen,  this  is  an  age  in  which  the 
principles  of  men  who  utter  public  opinion  dominate  the 
world.  It  makes  no  difference  what  is  done  for  the  time 
being.  After  the  struggle  is  over  the  jury  will  sit,  and 
nobody  can  corrupt  that  jury.  *  *  * 

Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price,  not  only  of  liberty,  but  of  a 
great  many  other  things.  It  is  the  price  of  everything  that 
is  good.  It  is  the  price  of  one's  own  soul.  It  is  the  price  of 
the  souls  of  the  people  you  love;  and  when  it  comes  down 
to  the  final  reckoning  you  have  a  standard  that  is  immutable. 
What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  own  soul?  Will 
he  sell  that?  Will  he  consent  to  see  another  man  sell  his 
soul?  Will  he  consent  to  see  the  conditions  of  his  commimity 
such  that  men's  souls  are  debauched  and  trodden  under- 
foot in  the  mire?  What  shall  he  give  in  exchange  for  his 
own  soul,  or  any  other  man's  soul?  And  since  the  world,  the 
world  of  affairs,  the  world  of  society,  is  nothing  less  and 
nothing  more  than  all  of  us  put  together,  it  is  a  great  enter- 
prise for  the  salvation  of  the  soul  in  this  world  as  well  as  in 
the  next.  There  is  a  text  in  Scripture  that  has  always 
interested  me  profoundly.  It  says  godliness  is  profitable  in 
this  life  as  well  as  in  the  life  that  is  to  come;  and  if  you  do 
not  start  it  in  this  life,  it  will  not  reach  the  life  that  is  to  come. 
Your  measurements,  your  directions,  your  whole  momentum, 
have  to  be  established  before  you  reach  the  next  world.  This 
world  is  intended  as  the  place  in  which  we  shall  show  that 
we  know  how  to  grow  in  the  stature  of  manliness  and  of 
righteousness. 

I  have  come  here  to  bid  Godspeed  to  the  great  work  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  I  love  to  think  of 
the  gathering  force  of  such  things  as  this  in  the  generations 
to  come.  If  a  man  had  to  measure  the  accomplishments  of 
society,  the  progress  of  reform,  the  speed  of  the  world's 


Oct.  24]  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  55 

betterment,  by  the  few  little  things  that  happened  in  his 
own  Hfe,  by  the  trifling  things  that  he  can  contribute  to 
accomplish,  he  would  indeed  feel  that  the  cost  was  much 
greater  than  the  result.  But  no  man  can  look  at  the  past  of 
the  history  of  this  worid  without  seeing  a  vision  of  the  future 
of  the  history  of  this  world;  and  when  you  think  of  the 
accumulated  moral  forces  that  have  made  one  age  better  than 
another  age  in  the  progress  of  mankind,  then  you  can  open 
your  eyes  to  the  vision.  You  can  see  that  age  by  age 
though  with  a  blind  struggle  in  the  dust  of  the  road,  thougl: 
often  mistaking  the  path  and  losing  its  way  in  the  mire, 
mankind  is  yet — sometimes  with  bloody  hands  and  battered 
knees — nevertheless  struggling  step  after  step  up  the  slow 
stages  to  the  day  when  he  shall  live  in  the  full  light  which 
shines  upon  the  uplands,  where  all  the  light  that  illumines 
mankind  shines  direct  from  the  face  of  God. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


19.    FOREIGN  TRADE  AND   SHIP  BUILDING 

(December  8,  19 14) 
Address  to  Congress 

The  session  upon  which  you  are  now  entering  will  be  the 
closing  session  of  the  Sixty-third  Congress,  a  Congress,  J. 
venture  to  say,  which  will  long  be  remembered  for  the  greai: 
body  of  thoughtful  and  constructive  work  which  it  has  done, 
in  loyal  response  to  the  thought  and  needs  of  the  country. 
I  should  like  in  this  address  to  review  the  notable  record 
and  try  to  make  adequate  assessment  of  it;  but  no  doubt 
we  stand  too  near  the  work  that  has  been  done  and  are 
ourselves  too  much  part  of  it  to  play  the  part  of  historians 
toward  it. 

Our  program  of  legislation  with  regard  to  the  regulation 
of  business  is  now  virtually  complete.  It  has  been  put  forth, 
as  we  intended,  as  a  whole,  and  leaves  no  conjecture  as  to 
what  is  to  follow.  The  road  at  last  lies  clear  and  firm 
before  business.    It  is  a  road  which  it  can  travel  without  fear 


56        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1914 

or  embarrassment.  It  is  the  road  to  ungrudged,  unclouded 
success.  In  it  every  honest  man,  every  man  who  beHeves 
that  the  public  interest  is  part  of  his  own  interest,  may  walk 
with  perfect  confidence. 

Moreover,  our  thoughts  are  now  more  of  the  future  than 
of  the  past.  While  we  have  worked  at  our  tasks  of  peace 
the  circumstances  of  the  whole  age  have  been  altered  by  war. 
What  we  have  done  for  our  own  land  and  our  own  people  we 
did  with  the  best  that  was  in  us,  whether  of  character  or  of 
intelligence,  with  sober  enthusiasm  and  a  confidence  in  the 
principles  upon  which  we  were  acting  which  sustained  us  at 
every  step  of  the  difficult  imdertaking;  but  it  is  done.  It 
has  passed  from  our  hands.  It  is  now  an  established  part 
of  the  legislation  of  the  country.  Its  usefulness,  its  effects 
will  disclose  themselves  in  experience.  What  chiefly  strikes 
us  now,  as  we  look  about  us  during  these  closing  days  of  a 
year  which  will  be  forever  memorable  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  is  that  we  face  new  tasks,  have  been  facing  them  these 
six  months,  must  face  them  in  the  months  to  come, — face 
them  without  partisan  feeling,  like  men  who  have  forgotten 
everything  but  a  common  duty  and  the  fact  that  we  are 
representatives  of  a  great  people  whose  thought  is  not  of  us 
but  of  what  America  owes  to  herself  and  to  all  mankind  in 
such  circumstances  as  these  upon  which  we  look  amazed  and 
anxious. 

War  has  interrupted  the  means  of  trade  not  only  but  also 
the  processes  of  production.  In  Europe  it  is  destroying  men 
and  resources  wholesale  and  upon  a  scale  unprecedented 
and  appalling.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  the  time  is  near, 
if  it  be  not  already  at  hand,  when  several  of  the  countries 
of  Europe  will  find  it  difficult  to  do  for  their  people  what 
they  have  hitherto  been  always  easily  able  to  do, — many 
essential  and  fundamental  things.  At  any  rate,  they  will 
need  our  help  and  our  manifold  services  as  they  have  never 
needed  them  before;  and  we  should  be  ready,  more  fit  and 
ready  than  we  have  ever  been. 

It  is  of  equal  consequence  that  the  nations  whom  Europe 
has  usually  supplied  with  innumerable  articles  of  manufac- 
ture and  commerce  of  which  they  are  in  constant  need  and 
without  which  their  economic  development  halts  and  stands 


Dec.  8]     FOREIGN  TRADE  AND  SHIPBUILDING     57 

still  can  now  get  only  a  small  part  of  what  they  formerly 
imported  and  eagerly  look  to  us  to  supply  their  all  but 
empty  markets.  This  is  particularly  true  of  our  own 
neighbors,  the  States,  great  and  small,  of  Central  and  South 
America.  Their  lines  of  trade  have  hitherto  run  chiefly 
athwart  the  seas,  not  to  our  ports  but  to  the  ports  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  the  older  continent  of  Europe.  I  do  not  stop 
to  inquire  why,  or  to  make  any  comment  on  probable  causes. 
What  interests  us  just  now  is  not  the  explanation  but  the 
fact,  and  our  duty  and  opportunity  in  the  presence  of  it. 
Here  are  markets  which  we  must  supply,  and  we  must  find 
the  means  of  action.  The  United  States,  this  great  people 
for  whom  we  speak  and  act,  should  be  ready,  as  never  before, 
to  serve  itself  and  to  serve  mankind;  ready  with  its  resources, 
its  energies,  its  forces  of  production,  and  its  means  of  dis- 
tribution. 

It  is  a  very  practical  matter,  a  matter  of  ways  and  means. 
We  have  the  resources,  but  are  we  fully  ready  to  use  them? 
And,  if  we  can  make  ready  what  we  have,  have  we  the  means 
at  hand  to  distribute  it?  We  are  not  fully  ready;  neither 
have  we  the  means  of  distribution.  We  are  willing,  but  we 
are  not  fully  able.  We  have  the  wish  to  serve  and  to  serve 
greatly,  generously;  but  we  are  not  prepared  as  we  should 
be.  We  are  not  ready  to  mobilize  our  resources  at  once. 
We  are  not  prepared  to  use  them  immediately  and  at  their 
best,  without  delay  and  without  waste. 

To  speak  plainly,  we  have  grossly  erred  in  the  way  in 
which  we  have  stunted  and  hindered  the  development  of  our 
merchant  marine.  And  now,  when  we  need  ships,  we  have 
not  got  them.  We  have  year  after  year  debated,  without 
end  or  conclusion,  the  best  policy  to  pursue  with  regard  to 
the  use  of  the  ores  and  forests  and  water  powers  of  our 
national  domain  in  the  rich  States  of  the  West,  when  we 
should  have  acted;  and  they  are  still  locked  up.  The  key 
is  still  turned  upon  them,  the  door  shut  fast  at  which 
thousands  of  vigorous  men,  full  of  initiative,  knock  clam- 
orously for  admittance.  The  water  power  of  our  navigable 
streams  outside  the  national  domain  also,  even  in  the  eastern 
States,  where  we  have  worked  and  planned  for  generations, 
is  still  not  used  as  it  might  be,  because  we  will  and  we  won't; 


58        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 14 

because  the  laws  we  have  made  do  not  intelligently  balance 
encouragement  against  restraint.  We  withhold  by  regu- 
lation. 

I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  remedy  and  correct  these  mis- 
takes and  omissions,  even  at  this  short  session  of  a  Congress 
which  would  certainly  seem  to  have  done  all  the  work  that 
could  reasonably  be  expected  of  it.  The  time  and  the  cir- 
cumstances are  extraordinary,  and  so  must  our  efforts  be 
also. 

Fortunately,  two  great  measures,  finely  conceived,  the 
one  to  unlock,  with  proper  safeguards,  the  resources  of  the 
national  domain,  the  other  to  encourage  the  use  of  the  navi- 
gable waters  outside  that  domain  for  the  generation  of  power, 
have  already  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  are 
ready  for  immediate  consideration  and  action  by  the  Senate. 
With  the  deepest  earnestness  I  urge  their  prompt  passage. 
In  them  both  we  turn  our  backs  upon  hesitation  and  make- 
shift and  formulate  a  genuine  policy  of  use  and  conservation, 
in  the  best  sense  of  those  words.  We  owe  the  one  measure 
not  only  to  the  people  of  that  great  western  country  for 
whose  free  and  systematic  development,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
our  legislation  has  done  so  little,  but  also  to  the  people  of 
the  Nation  as  a  whole;  and  we  as  clearly  owe  the  other  in 
fulfillment  of  our  repeated  promises  that  the  water  power 
of  the  country  should  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  be  put  at  the 
disposal  of  great  industries  which  can  make  economical  and 
profitable  use  of  it,  the  rights  of  the  pubHc  being  adequately 
guarded  the  while,  and  monopoly  in  the  use  prevented.  To 
have  begun  such  measures  and  not  completed  them  would 
indeed  mar  the  record  of  this  great  Congress  very  seriously. 
I  hope  and  confidently  believe  that  they  will  be  completed. 

And  there  is  another  great  piece  of  legislation  which 
awaits  and  should  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Senate:  I  mean 
the  bill  which  gives  a  larger  measure  of  self-government  to 
the  people  of  the  Philippines.  How  better,  in  this  time  of 
anxious  questioning  and  perplexed  policy,  could  we  show  our 
confidence  in  the  principles  of  liberty,  as  the  source  as  well 
as  the  expression  of  life,  how  better  could  we  demonstrate  our 
self-possession  and  steadfastness  in  the  courses  of  justice  and 
disinterestedness  than  by  thus  going  calmly  forward  to  fulfill 


Dec.  8]     FOREIGN  TRADE  AND  SHIPBUILDING     59 

our  promises  to  a  dependent  people,  who  will  now  look  more 
anxiously  than  ever  to  see  whether  we  have  indeed  the  liber- 
ality, the  unselfishness,  the  courage,  the  faith  we  have  boasted 
and  professed.  I  can  not  believe  that  the  Senate  will  let 
this  great  measure  of  constructive  justice  await  the  action 
of  another  Congress.  Its  passage  would  nobly  crown  the 
record  of  these  two  years  of  memorable  labor. 

But  I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  this  does  not 
complete  the  toll  of  our  duty.  How  are  we  to  carry  our 
goods  to  the  empty  markets  of  which  I  have  spoken  if  we 
have  not  the  ships?  How  are  we  to  build  up  a  great  trade 
if  we  have  not  the  certain  and  constant  means  of  trans- 
portation upon  which  all  profitable  and  useful  commerce 
depends?  And  how  are  we  to  get  the  ships  if  we  wait  for 
the  trade  to  devebp  without  them?  To  correct  the  many 
mistakes  by  which  we  have  discouraged  and  all  but  de- 
stroyed the  merchant  marine  of  the  country,  to  retrace  the 
steps  by  which  we  have,  it  seems  almost  deliberately,  with- 
dravm  our  flag  from  the  seas,  except  where,  here  and  there,  a 
ship  of  war  is  bidden  carry  it  or  some  wandering  yacht 
displays  it,  would  take  a  long  time  and  involve  many  de- 
tailed items  of  legislation,  and  the  trade  which  we  ought 
immedately  to  handle  would  disappear  or  find  other  chan- 
nels while  we  debated  the  items. 

The  case  is  not  unlike  that  which  confronted  us  when  our 
own  continent  was  to  be  opened  up  to  settlement  and  indus- 
try, and  we  needed  long  lines  of  railway,  extended  means  of 
transportation  prepared  beforehand,  if  development  was  not 
to  lag  intolerably  and  wait  interminably.  We  lavishly  sub- 
sidized the  building  of  transcontinental  railroads.  We  look 
back  upon  that  with  regret  now,  because  the  subsidies  led  to 
many  scandals  of  which  we  are  ashamed;  but  we  know  that 
the  railroads  had  to  be  built,  and  if  we  had  it  to  do  over 
again  we  should  of  course  build  them,  but  in  another  way. 
Therefore  I  propose  another  way  of  providing  the  means  of 
transportation,  which  must  precede,  not  tardily  follow,  the 
development  of  our  trade  with  our  neighbor  states  of 
America.  It  may  seem  a  reversal  of  the  natural  order  of 
things,  but  it  is  true,  that  the  routes  of  trade  must  be  actually 
opened — ^by  many  ships  and  regular  sailings  and  moderate 


6o        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1914 

charges — ^before  streams  of  merchandise  will  flow  freely  and 
profitably  through  them. 

Hence  the  pending  shipping  bill,  discussed  at  the  last 
session  but  as  yet  passed  by  neither  House.  In  my  judg- 
ment such  legislation  is  imperatively  needed  and  can  not 
wisely  be  postponed.  The  Government  must  open  these 
gates  of  trade,  and  open  them  wide;  open  them  before  it  is 
altogether  profitable  to  open  them,  or  altogether  reasonable 
to  ask  private  capital  to  open  them  at  a  venture.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  the  Government  monopolizing  the  field.  It 
should  take  action  to  make  it  certain  that  transportation  at 
reasonable  rates  will  be  promptly  provided,  even  where  the 
carriage  is  not  at  first  profitable ;  and  then,  when  the  carriage 
has  become  sufficiently  profitable  to  attract  and  engage  pri- 
vate capital,  and  engage  it  in  abundance,  ^he  Government 
ought  to  withdraw.  I  very  earnestly  hope  that  the  Congress 
will  be  of  this  opinion,  and  that  both  Houses  will  adopt  this 
exceedingly  important  bill.  *  *  * 

I  would  be  negligent  of  a  very  manifest  duty  were  I  not 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
p>osed  convention  for  safety  at  sea  awaits  its  confirmation 
and  that  the  limit  fixed  in  the  convention  itself  for  its 
acceptance  is  the  last  day  of  the  present  month.  The  con- 
ference in  which  this  convention  originated  was  called  by  the 
United  States;  the  representatives  of  the  United  States 
played  a  very  influential  part  indeed  in  framing  the  provi- 
sions of  the  proposed  convention;  and  those  provisions  are 
in  themselves  for  the  most  part  admirable.  It  would  hardly 
be  consistent  with  the  part  we  have  played  in  the  whole 
matter  to  let  it  drop  and  go  by  the  board  as  if  forgotten  and 
neglected.  It  was  ratified  in  May  last  by  the  German 
Government  and  in  August  by  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain.  It  marks  a  most  hopeful  and  decided  advance  in 
international  civilization.  We  should  show  our  earnest  faith 
in  a  great  matter  by  adding  our  own  acceptance  of  it.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


YEAR    1915 

20.    THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY 

(January  8,  1915) 

Jackson  Day  Address  at  Indianapolis 

You  have  given  me  a  most  royal  welcome,  for  which  X 
thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  It  is  rather  lonely 
living  in  Washington.  I  have  been  conJSned  for  two  years 
at  hard  labor,  and  even  now  I  feel  that  I  am  simply  out  on 
parole.  You  notice  that  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
Members  of  the  United  States  Senate  is  here  to  see  that  I 
go  back.  And  yet,  with  sincere  apologies  to  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  I  want  to  say  that  I  draw  more 
inspiration  from  you  than  I  do  from  them.  They,  like 
myself,  are  only  servants  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Our  sinews  consist  in  your  sympathy  and  support,  and  our 
renewal  comes  from  contact  with  you  and  with  the  strong 
movements  of  public  opinion  in  the  country. 

That  is  the  reason  why  I  for  one  would  prefer  that  our 
thoughts  should  not  too  often  cross  the  ocean,  but  should 
center  themselves  upon  the  policies  and  duties  of  the  United 
States.  If  we  think  rightly  of  the  United  States,  when  the 
time  comes  we  shall  know  how  this  country  can  serve  the 
world.  I  will  borrow  a  very  interesting  phrase  from  a  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  and  beg  that  you 
will  "keep  your  moral  powder  dry." 

But  I  have  come  here  on  Jackson  Day.  If  there  are 
Republicans  present,  I  hope  they  will  feel  the  compelling 
influences  of  such  a  day.  There  was  nothing  mild  about 
Andrew  Jackson;  that  is  the  reason  I  spoke  of  the  "com- 
pelling influences"   of   the   day.     Andrew  Jackson   was  a 

61 


62        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

forthright  man  who  believed  everything  he  did  believe  in 
fighting  earnest.  And  really,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  public 
life  that  is  the  only  sort  of  man  worth  thinking  about  for  a 
moment.  If  I  was  not  ready  to  fight  for  everything  I  believe 
in,  I  would  think  it  my  duty  to  go  back  and  take  a  back 
seat.  I  like,  therefore,  to  breathe  the  air  of  Jackson  Day. 
I  like  to  be  reminded  of  the  old  militant  hosts  of  Democracy 
which  I  believe  have  come  to  life  again  in  our  time.  The 
United  States  had  almost  forgotten  that  it  must  keep  its 
fighting  ardor  in  behalf  of  mankind  when  Andrew  Jackson 
became  President;  and  you  will  notice  that  whenever  the 
United  States  forgets  its  ardor  for  mankind  it  is  necessary 
that  a  Democrat  should  be  elected  President. 

The  trouble  with  the  Republican  Party  is  that  it  has  not 
had  a  new  idea  for  thirty  years.  I  am  not  speaking  as  a 
K)litician;  I  am  speaking  as  an  historian.  I  have  looked  for 
lew  ideas  in  the  records  and  I  have  not  found  any  proceed- 
ing from  the  Republican  ranks.  They  have  had  leaders  from 
time  to  time  who  suggested  new  ideas,  but  they  never  did 
anything  to  carry  them  out.  I  suppose  there  was  no  harm 
in  their  talking,  provided  they  could  not  do  anything.  There- 
fore, when  it  was  necessary  to  say  that  we  had  talked  about 
things  long  enough  which  it  was  necessary  to  do,  and  the 
time  had  come  to  do  them,  it  was  indispensable  that  a 
Democrat  should  be  elected  President. 

I  would  not  speak  with  disrespect  of  the  Republican 
Party.  I  always  speak  with  great  respect  of  the  past.  The 
Dast  was  necessary  to  the  present,  and  was  a  sure  prediction 
)f  the  future.  The  Republican  Party  is  still  a  covert  and 
•efuge  for  those  who  are  afraid,  for  those  who  want  to  con- 
sult their  grandfathers  about  everything.  You  will  notice 
that  most  of  the  advice  taken  by  the  Republican  Party  is 
taken  from  gentlemen  old  enough  to  be  grandfathers,  and 
that  when  they  claim  that  a  reaction  has  taken  place,  they 
react  to  the  reelection  of  the  oldest  members  of  their  party. 
They  will  not  trust  the  youngsters.  They  are  fraid  the  young- 
sters may  have  something  up  their  sleeve. 

You  will  see,  therefore,  that  I  have  come  to  you  in  the 
spirit  of  Jackson  Day.  I  got  very  tired  staying  in  Washing- 
ton and  saying  sweet  things.    I  wanted  to  come  out  and  get 


Jan.  8]  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  63 

contact  with  you  once  more  and  say  what  I  really  thought. 

My  friends,  what  I  particularly  want  you  to  observe  is 
this,  that  politics  in  this  country  does  not  depend  any  longer 
upon  the  regular  members  of  either  party.  There  are  not 
enough  regular  Republicans  in  this  country  to  take  and  hold 
national  power;  and  I  must  immediately  add  there  are  not 
enough  regular  Dem.ocrats  in  this  country  to  do  it,  either. 
This  country  is  guided  and  its  policy  is  determined  by  the 
independent  voter;  and  I  have  come  to  ask  you  how  we  can 
best  prove  to  the  independent  voter  that  the  instrument 
he  needs  is  the  Democratic  Party,  and  that  it  would  be 
hopeless  for  him  to  attempt  to  use  the  Republican  Party.  I 
do  not  have  to  prove  it ;  I  admit  it. 

What  seems  to  me  perfectly  evident  is  this:  That  if  you 
made  a  rough  reckoning,  you  would  have  to  admit  that  only 
about  one- third  of  the  Republican  Party  is  progressive;  and 
you  would  also  have  to  admit  that  about  two-thirds  of  the 
Democratic  Party  is  progressive.  Therefore,  the  independent 
progressive  voter  finds  a  great  deal  more  company  in  the 
Democratic  ranks  than  in  the  Republican  ranks.  I  say  a 
great  deal  more,  because  there  are  Democrats  who  are  sitting 
on  the  breeching  strap:  there  are  Democrats  who  are  holding 
back;  there  are  Democrats  who  are  nervous.  I  dare  say 
they  were  bom  with  that  temperament.  And  I  respect  the 
conservative  temper.  I  claim  to  be  an  animated  conservative 
myself,  because  being  a  conservative  I  understand  to  mean 
being  a  man  not  only  who  preserves  what  is  best  in  the 
Nation  but  who  sees  that  in  order  to  preserve  it  you  dare 
not  stand  still  but  must  move  forward.  The  virtue  of 
America  is  not  statical;  it  is  dynamic.  All  the  forces  of 
America  are  forces  in  action  or  else  they  are  forces  of  inertia. 

What  I  want  to  point  out  to  you — and  I  believe  that  this 
is  what  the  whole  country  is  beginning  to  perceive — is  this, 
that  there  is  a  larger  body  of  men  in  the  regular  ranks  of 
the  Democratic  Party  who  believe  in  the  progressive  policies 
of  our  day  and  mean  to  see  them  carried  forward  and  per- 
petuated than  there  is  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican 
Party.  How  can  it  be  otherwise,  gentlemen?  The  Demo- 
cratic Party,  and  the  only  Democratic  Party,  has  carried  out 
the  policies  which  the  progressive  people  of  this  country  have 


64        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1915 

desired.  There  is  not  a  single  great  act  of  this  present  great 
Congress  which  has  not  been  carried  out  in  obedience  to  the 
public  opinion  of  America;  and  the  pubHc  opinion  of  America 
is  not  going  to  permit  any  body  of  men  to  go  backward  with 
regard  to  these  great  matters.  *  *  * 

But  the  Democratic  Party  is  not  to  suppose  that  it  is  done 
with  the  business.  The  Democratic  Party  is  still  on  trial. 
The  Democratic  Party  still  has  to  prove  to  the  independent 
voters  of  the  country  not  only  that  it  believes  in  these  things, 
but  that  it  will  continue  to  work  along  these  lines  and  that 
it  will  not  allow  any  enemy  of  these  things  to  break  its 
ranks.  This  country  is  not  going  to  use  any  party  that  can 
not  do  continuous  and  consistent  teamwork.  If  any  group 
of  men  should  dare  to  break  the  solidarity  of  the  Democratic 
team  for  any  purpose  or  from  any  motive,  theirs  will  be  a 
most  unenviable  notoriety  and  a  responsibility  which  will 
bring  deep  bitterness  to  them.  The  only  party  that  is  ser- 
viceable to  a  nation  is  a  party  that  can  hold  absolutely  to- 
gether and  march  with  the  discipline  and  with  the  zest  of  a 
conquering  host. 

I  am  not  saying  these  things  because  I  doubt  that  the 
Democratic  Party  will  be  able  to  do  this,  but  because  I 
believe  that  as  leader  for  the  time  being  of  that  party  I  can 
promise  the  country  that  it  will  do  these  things.  I  know  my 
colleagues  at  Washington;  I  know  their  spirit  and  their  pur- 
pose; and  I  know  that  they  have  the  same  emotion,  the  same 
high  emotion  of  public  service,  that  I  hope  I  have.  *  *  * 

There  is  one  thing  I  have  got  a  great  enthusiasm  about, 
I  might  almost  say  a  reckless  enthusiasm,  and  that  is  human 
liberty.  The  Governor  has  just  now  spoken  about  watchful 
waiting  in  Mexico.  I  want  to  say  a  word  about  Mexico,  or 
not  so  much  about  Mexico  as  about  our  attitude  towards 
Mexico.  I  hold  it  as  a  fundamental  principle,  and  so  do 
you,  that  every  people  has  the  right  to  determine  its  own 
form  of  government;  and  until  this  recent  revolution  in 
Mexico,  until  the  end  of  the  Diaz  reign,  eighty  per  cent  of 
the  people  of  Mexico  never  had  a  "look  in"  in  determining 
who  should  be  their  governors  or  what  their  government 
should  be.  Now,  I  am  for  the  eighty  per  cent!  It  is  none  of 
my  business,  and  it  is  none  of  your  business,  how  long  they 


Jan.  8]  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  65 

take  in  determining  it.  It  is  none  of  my  business,  and  it  is 
none  of  yours,  how  they  go  about  the  business.  The  country 
is  theirs.  The  Government  is  theirs.  The  liberty,  if  they 
can  get  it,  and  Godspeed  them  in  getting  it,  is  theirs.  And 
so  far  as  my  influence  goes  while  I  am  President  nobody 
shall  interfere  with  them. 

That  is  what  I  mean  by  a  great  emotion,  the  great  emotion 
of  sympathy.  Do  you  suppose  that  the  American  people 
are  ever  going  to  count  a  small  amount  of  material  benefit 
and  advantage  to  people  doing  business  in  Mexico  against 
the  liberties  and  the  permanent  happiness  of  the  Mexican 
people?  Have  not  European  nations  taken  as  long  as  they 
wanted  and  spilt  as  much  blood  as  they  pleased  in  settling 
their  affairs,  and  shall  we  deny  that  to  Mexico  because  she 
is  weak?  No,  I  say!  I  am  proud  to  belong  to  a  strong 
nation  that  says,  "This  coimtry  which  we  could  crush  shall 
have  just  as  much  freedom  in  her  own  affairs  as  we  have." 
If  I  am  strong,  I  am  ashamed  to  bully  the  weak.  In  pro- 
portion to  my  strength  is  my  pride  in  withholding  that 
strength  from  the  oppression  of  another  people.  And  I 
know  when  I  speak  these  things,  not  merely  from  the  gen- 
erous response  with  which  they  have  just  met  from  you,  but 
from  my  long-time  knowledge  of  the  American  people,  that 
that  is  the  sentiment  of  this  great  people.  With  all  due 
respect  to  editors  of  great  newspapers,  I  have  to  say  to  them 
that  I  seldom  take  my  opinion  of  the  American  people  from 
their  editorials.  When  some  great  dailies  not  very  far  from 
where  I  am  temporarily  residing  thundered  with  rising  scorn 
at  watchful  waiting,  my  confidence  was  not  for  a  moment 
shaken.  I  knew  what  were  the  temper  and  principles  of  the 
American  people.  If  I  did  not  at  least  think  I  knew,  I  would 
emigrate,  because  I  would  not  be  satisfied  to  stay  where  I 
am.  There  may  come  a  time  when  the  American  people 
will  have  to  judge  whether  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about 
or  not,  but  at  least  for  two  years  more  I  am  free  to  think 
that  I  do,  with  a  great  comfort  in  immunity  in  the  time 
being. 

It  is,  by  the  way,  a  very  comforting  thought  that  the  next 
Congress  of  the  United  States  is  going  to  be  very  safely 
Democratic  and  that,  therefore,  we  can  all  together  feel  a'l 


66        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

much  confidence  as  Jackson  did  that  we  know  what  we  are 
about.  You  know  Jackson  used  to  think  that  everybody  who 
disagreed  with  him  was  an  enemy  of  the  country.  I  have 
never  got  quite  that  far  in  my  thought,  but  I  have  ventured 
to  think  that  they  did  not  know  what  they  were  talking 
about,  knowing  that  my  fellow  Democrats  expected  me  to 
live  up  to  the  full  stature  of  Jacksonian  Democracy. 

I  feel,  my  friends,  in  a  very  confident  mood  to-day.  I  feel 
confident  that  we  do  know  the  spirit  of  the  American  people, 
that  we  do  know  the  program  of  betterment  which  it  will 
be  necessary  for  us  to  undertake,  that  we  do  have  a  very 
reasonable  confidence  in  the  support  of  the  American  people. 
I  have  been  talking  with  business  men  recently  about  the 
present  state  of  mind  of  American  business.  There  is  nothing 
the  matter  with  American  business  except  a  state  of  mind. 
I  understand  that  your  chamber  of  commerce  here  in  Indian- 
apolis is  working  now  upon  the  motto  "If  you  are  going  to 
buy  it,  buy  it  now."  That  is  a  perfectly  safe  maxim  to 
act  on.  It  is  just  as  safe  to  buy  it  now  as  it  ever  will  be, 
and  if  you  start  the  buying  there  will  be  no  end  to  it,  and 
you  will  be  a  seller  as  well  as  a  buyer.  I  am  just  as  sure  of 
that  as  I  can  be,  because  I  have  taken  counsel  with  the  men 
who  know.  I  never  was  in  business  and,  therefore,  I  have 
none  of  the  prejudices  of  business.  I  have  looked  on  and 
tried  to  see  what  the  interests  of  the  country  were  in  busi- 
ness; I  have  taken  counsel  with  men  who  did  know,  and 
their  counsel  is  uniform,  that  all  that  is  needed  in  America 
now  is  to  believe  in  the  future;  and  I  can  assure  you  as  one 
of  those  who  speak  for  the  Democratic  Party  that  it  is 
perfectly  safe  to  believe  in  the  future.  We  are  so  much 
the  friends  of  business  that  we  were  for  a  little  time  the 
enemies  of  those  who  were  trying  to  control  business.  I  say 
"for  a  little  time"  because  we  are  now  reconciled  to  them. 
They  have  graciously  admitted  that  we  had  a  right  to  do 
what  we  did  do,  and  they  have  very  handsomely  said  that 
they  were  going  to  play  the  game. 

I  believe — I  always  have  believed — that  American  business 
men  were  absolutely  sound  at  heart,  but  men  immersed  in 
business  do  a  lot  of  things  that  opportunity  offers  which  in 
other  circumstances  they  would  not  do;  and  I  have  thought 


Jan.  8]  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  67 

all  along  that  all  that  was  necessary  to  do  v/as  to  call  their 
attention  sharply  to  the  kind  of  reforms  in  business  which 
were  needed  and  that  they  would  acquiesce.  Why,  I  believe 
they  have  heartily  acquiesced.  There  is  all  the  more  reason, 
therefore,  that,  great  and  small,  we  should  be  confident  in  the 
future. 

And  what  a  future  it  is,  my  friends!  Look  abroad  upon 
the  troubled  world!  Only  America  at  peace!  Among  all 
the  great  powers  of  the  world  only  America  saving  her  power 
for  her  own  people!  Only  America  using  her  great  character 
and  her  great  strength  in  the  interests  of  peace  and  of  pros- 
perity! Do  you  not  think  it  likely  that  the  world  will  some 
time  turn  to  America  and  say,  "You  were  right  and  we  were 
wrong.  You  kept  your  head  when  we  lost  ours.  You  tried 
to  keep  the  scale  from  tipping,  and  we  threw  the  whole 
weight  of  arms  in  one  side  of  the  scale.  Now,  in  your  self- 
possession,  in  your  coolness,  in  your  strength,  may  we  not 
turn  to  you  for  counsel  and  for  assistance?"  Think  of  the 
deep-wrought  destruction  of  economic  resources,  of  life,  and 
of  hope  that  is  taking  place  in  some  parts  of  the  world,  and 
think  of  the  reservoir  of  hope,  the  reservoir  of  energy,  the 
reservoir  of  sustenance  that  there  is  in  this  great  land  of 
plenty!  May  we  not  look  forward  to  the  time  when  we 
shall  be  called  blessed  among  the  nations,  because  we  suc- 
cored the  nations  of  the  world  in  their  time  of  distress  and 
of  dismay?  I  for  one  pray  God  that  that  solemn  hour  may 
come,  and  I  know  the  solidity  of  character  and  I  know  the 
exaltation  of  hope,  I  know  the  big  principle  with  which  the 
American  people  will  respond  to  the  call  of  the  world  for 
this  service.  I  thank  God  that  those  who  believe  in  America, 
who  try  to  serve  her  people,  are  likely  to  be  also  what 
America  herself  from  the  first  hoped  and  meant  to  be — the 
servant  of  mankind.  White  House  Pamphlet. 

21.     PROPER  TESTS  OF  IMMIGRANTS 

(January  28,  19 15)  i 

Veto  Message  of  the  Literacy  Test  Bill 

It  is  with  unaffected  regret  that  I  find  myself  constrained 
by  clear  conviction  to  return  this  bill  (H.  R.  6060,  "An  act 


68        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1915 

to  regulate  the  immigration  of  aliens  to  and  the  residence  of 
aliens  in  the  United  States")  without  my  signature.  Not 
only  do  I  feel  it  to  be  a  very  serious  matter  to  exercise  the 
power  of  veto  in  any  case,  because  it  involves  opposing  the 
single  judgment  of  the  President  to  the  judgment  of  a  ma- 
jority of  both  the  Houses  of  the  Congress,  a  step  which  no 
man  who  realizes  his  own  liability  to  error  can  take  without 
great  hesitation,  but  also  because  this  particular  bill  is  in  so 
many  important  respects  admirable,  well  conceived,  and 
desirable.  Its  enactment  into  law  would  undoubtedly  en- 
hance the  efficiency  and  improve  the  methods  of  handling 
the  important  branch  of  the  public  service  to  which  it  relates. 
But  candor  and  a  sense  of  duty  with  regard  to  the  responsi- 
bility so  clearly  imposed  upon  me  by  the  Constitution  in 
matters  of  legislation  leave  me  no  choice  but  to  dissent. 

In  two  particulars  of  vital  consequence  this  bill  embodies 
a  radical  departure  from  the  traditional  and  long-established 
policy  of  this  country,  a  policy  in  which  our  people  have 
conceived  the  very  character  of  their  Government  to  be  ex- 
pressed, the  very  mission  and  spirit  of  the  Nation  in  respect 
of  its  relations  to  the  peoples  of  the  world  outside  their  bor- 
ders. It  seeks  to  all  but  close  entirely  the  gates  of  asylum 
which  have  always  been  open  to  those  who  could  find  no- 
where else  the  right  and  opportunity  of  constitutional  agita- 
tion for  what  they  conceived  to  be  the  natural  and  inalienable 
rights  of  men;  and  it  excludes  those  to  whom  the  oppor- 
tunities of  elementary  education  have  been  denied,  without 
regard  to  their  character,  their  purposes,  or  their  natural 
capacity. 

Restrictions  like  these,  adopted  earlier  in  our  history  as  a 
Nation,  would  very  materially  have  altered  the  course  and 
cooled  the  humane  ardors  of  our  politics.  The  right  of  po- 
litical asylum  has  brought  to  this  country  many  a  man  of 
noble  character  and  elevated  purpose  who  was  marked  as  an 
outlaw  in  his  own  less  fortunate  land,  and  who  has  yet 
become  an  ornament  to  our  citizenship  and  to  our  public 
councils.  The  children  and  the  compatriots  of  these  illus- 
trious Americans  must  stand  amazed  to  see  the  representa- 
tives of  their  Nation  now  resolved,  in  the  fullness  of  our 
national  strength  and  at  the  maturity  of  our  great  institu- 


Jan.  28]     THE  PROPER  TEST  OF  IMMIGRANTS     69 

tions,  to  risk  turning  such  men  back  from  our  shores  without 
test  of  quality  or  purpose.  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  believe 
that  the  full  effect  of  this  feature  of  the  bill  was  realized 
when  it  was  framed  and  adopted,  and  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  assent  to  it  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  here  cast. 

The  literacy  test  and  the  tests  and  restrictions  which  ac- 
company it  constitute  an  even  more  radical  change  in  the 
policy  of  the  Nation.  Hitherto  we  have  generously  kept  our 
doors  open  to  all  who  were  not  imfitted  by  reason  of  disease 
or  incapacity  for  self-support  or  such  personal  records  and 
antecedents  as  were  likely  to  make  them  a  menace  to  out 
peace  and  order  or  to  the  wholesome  and  essential  relation* 
ships  of  life.  In  this  bill  it  is  proposed  to  turn  away  from 
tests  of  character  and  of  quality  and  impose  tests  which 
exclude  and  restrict;  for  the  new  tests  here  embodied  are  not 
tests  of  quality  or  of  character  or  of  personal  fitness,  but 
tests  of  opportunity.  Those  who  come  seeking  opportunity 
are  not  to  be  admitted  unless  they  have  already  had  one  of 
the  chief  of  the  opportunities  they  seek,  the  opportunity  of 
education.  The  object  of  such  provisions  is  restriction,  not 
selection. 

If  the  people  of  this  country  have  made  up  their  minds  to 
limit  the  number  of  immigrants  by  arbitrary  tests  and  so 
reverse  the  policy  of  all  the  generations  of  Americans  that 
have  gone  before  them,  it  is  their  right  to  do  so.  I  am  their 
servant  and  have  no  license  to  stand  in  their  way.  But  I  do 
not  believe  that  they  have.  I  respectfully  submit  that  no 
one  can  quote  their  mandate  to  that  effect.  Has  any  political 
party  ever  avowed  a  policy  of  restriction  in  this  fundamental 
matter,  gone  to  the  country  on  it,  and  been  commissioned  to 
control  its  legislation?  Does  this  bill  rest  upon  the  conscious 
and  universal  assent  and  desire  of  the  American  people? 
I  doubt  it.  It  is  because  I  doubt  it  that  I  make  bold  to 
dissent  from  it.  I  am  willing  to  abide  by  the  verdict,  but 
not  until  it  has  been  rendered.  Let  the  platforms  of  parties 
speak  out  upon  this  policy  and  the  people  pronounce  their 
wish.    The  matter  is  too  fundamental  to  be  settled  otherwise. 

I  have  no  pride  of  opinion  in  this  question.  I  am  not 
foolish  enough  to  profess  to  know  the  wishes  and  ideals  of 
America  better  than  the  body  of  her  chosen  representatives 


70        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1915 

know  them.    I  only  want  instruction  direct  from  those  whose 
fortunes,  with  ours  and  all  men's,  are  involved. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 

22.    NATIONAL  COMMERCE 

(February  3,  1915) 

Address  to  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
AT  Washington 

I  feel  that  it  is  hardly  fair  to  you  for  me  to  come  in  in 
this  casual  fashion  among  a  body  of  men  who  have  been 
seriously  discussing  great  questions,  and  it  is  hardly  fair  to 
me,  because  I  come  in  cold,  not  having  had  the  advantage  of 
sharing  the  atmosphere  of  your  deliberations  and  catching 
the  feeling  of  your  conference.  Moreover,  I  hardly  know 
just  how  to  express  my  interest  in  the  things  you  are  under- 
taking. When  a  man  stands  outside  an  organization  and 
speaks  to  it  he  is  too  apt  to  have  the  tone  of  outside  com- 
mendation, as  who  should  say,  "I  would  desire  to  pat  you 
on  the  back  and  say  'Good  boys;  you  are  doing  well!' "  I 
would  a  great  deal  rather  have  you  receive  me  as  if  for  the 
time  being  I  were  one  of  your  own  number. 

Because  the  longer  I  occupy  the  office  that  I  now  occupy 
the  more  I  regret  any  lines  of  separation ;  the  more  I  deplore 
any  feeling  that  one  set  of  men  has  one  set  of  interests  and 
another  set  of  men  another  set  of  interests;  the  more  I  feel 
the  solidarity  of  the  Nation — the  impossibility  of  separating 
one  interest  from  another  without  misconceiving  it:  the 
necessity  that  we  should  all  understand  one  another,  in  order 
that  we  may  understand  ourselves. 

There  is  an  illustration  which  I  have  used  a  great  many 
times.  I  will  use  it  again,  because  it  is  the  most  serviceable 
to  my  own  mind.  We  often  speak  of  a  man  who  cannot  find 
his  way  in  some  jimgle  or  some  desert  as  having  "lost  him- 
self." Did  you  never  reflect  that  that  is  the  only  thing  he 
has  not  lost?    He  is  there.    He  has  lost  the  rest  of  the  world. 


Feb.  3]  NATIONAL  COMMERCE  71 

He  has  no  fixed  point  by  which  to  steer.  He  does  not  know 
which  is  north,  which  is  south,  which  is  east,  which  is  west; 
and  if  he  did  know,  he  is  so  confused  that  he  would  not  know 
in  which  of  those  directions  his  goal  lay  Therefore,  follow- 
ing his  heart,  he  walks  in  a  great  circle  from  right  to  left  and 
comes  back  to  where  he  started — to  himself  again.  To  my 
mind  that  is  a  picture  of  the  world.  If  you  have  lost  sight 
of  other  interests  and  do  not  know  the  relation  of  your  owti 
interests  to  those  other  interests,  then  you  do  not  understand 
your  own  interests,  and  have  lost  yourself.  What  you  want 
is  orientation,  relationship  to  the  points  of  the  compass;  lela- 
tionship  to  the  other  people  in  the  world,  vital  connections 
which  you  have  for  the  time  being  severed 

I  am  particularly  glad  to  express  my  admiration  for  the 
kind  of  organization  which  you  have  drawn  together.  I  have 
attended  banquets  of  chambers  of  commerce  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  and  have  got  the  impression  at  each 
of  those  banquets  that  there  was  only  one  city  in  the  country. 
It  has  seemed  to  me  that  those  associations  were  meant  in 
order  to  destroy  men's  perspective,  in  order  to  destroy  their 
sense  of  relative  proportions.  Worst  of  all,  if  I  may  be 
permitted  to  say  so,  they  were  intended  to  boost  something 
ir  particular.  Boosting  is  a  very  unhandsome  thing.  Ad- 
vancing enterprise  is  a  very  handsome  thing,  but  to  exag- 
gerate local  merits  in  order  to  create  disproportion  in  the 
general  development  is  not  a  particularly  handsome  thing 
or  a  particularly  intelligent  thing.  A  city  cannot  grow  on 
the  face  of  a  great  state  like  a  mushroom  on  that  one  spot. 
Its  roots  are  throughout  the  state,  and  unless  the  state  it  is 
in,  or  the  region  it  draws  from,  can  itself  thrive  and  pulse 
with  life  as  a  whole,  the  city  can  have  no  healthy  growth. 
You  forget  the  wide  rootages  of  everything  when  you  boost 
some  particular  region.  There  are  dangers  which  probably 
you  all  understand  in  the  mere  practice  of  advertisement. 
When  a  man  begins  to  advertise  himself  there  are  certain 
points  that  are  somewhat  exaggerated,  and  I  have  noticed 
that  men  who  exaggerate  most,  most  quickly  lose  any  proper 
conception  of  what  their  own  proportions  are.  Therefore, 
these  local  centers  of  enthusiasm  may  be  local  centers  of 
mistake  if  they  are  not  very  wisely  guided  and  if  they  do 


72        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1915 

not  themselves  realize  their  relations  to  the  other  centers  of 
enthusiasm  and  of  advancement. 

The  advantage  about  a  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States  is  that  there  is  only  one  way  to  boost  the 
United  States,  and  that  is  by  seeing  to  it  that  the  conditions 
under  which  business  is  done  throughout  the  whole  country 
are  the  best  possible  conditions.  There  cannot  be  any  dis- 
proportion about  that.  If  you  draw  your  sap  and  your 
vitality  from  all  quarters,  then  the  more  sap  and  vitality 
there  is  in  you  the  more  there  is  in  the  commonwealth  as  a 
whole,  and  every  time  you  lift  at  all  you  lift  the  whole  level 
of  manufacturing  and  mercantile  enterprise.  Moreover,  the 
advantage  of  it  is  that  you  cannot  boost  the  United  States 
in  that  way  without  imderstanding  the  United  States.  You 
learn  a  great  deal.  I  agreed  with  a  colleague  of  mine  in 
the  Cabinet  the  other  day  that  we  had  never  attended  in 
our  lives  before  a  school  to  compare  with  that  we  were 
now  attending  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. 

Of  course,  I  learn  a  great  many  things  that  are  not  so, 
but  the  interesting  thing  about  that  is  this:  Things  that 
are  not  so  do  not  match.  If  you  hear  enough  of  them,  you 
see  there  is  no  pattern  whatever;  it  is  a  crazy  quilt. 
Whereas,  the  truth  always  matches,  piece  by  piece,  with 
other  parts  of  the  truth.  No  man  can  lie  consistently,  and 
he  cannot  lie  about  everything  if  he  talks  to  you  long.  I 
would  guarantee  that  if  enough  liars  talked  to  you,  you 
would  get  the  truth;  because  the  parts  that  they  did  not 
invent  would  match  one  another,  and  the  parts  that  they  did 
invent  would  not  match  one  another.  Talk  long  enough, 
therefore,  and  see  the  connections  clearly  enough,  and  you 
can  patch  together  a  case  as  a  whole.  I  had  somewhat  that 
experience  about  Mexico,  and  that  was  about  the  only  way 
in  which  I  learned  anything  that  was  true  about  it.  For 
there  has  been  vivid  imaginations  and  many  special  interests 
which  depicted  things  as  they  wished  me  to  believe  them 
to  be. 

Seriously,  the  task  of  this  body  is  to  match  all  the  facts 
of  business  throughout  the  country  and  to  see  the  vast  and 
consistent  pattern  of  it.    That  is  the  reason  I  think  you  are 


Feb.  3]  NATIONAL  COMMERCE  73 

to  be  congratulated  upon  the  fact  that  you  can  not  do  this 
thing  without  common  coimsel.  There  isn't  any  man  who 
knows  enough  to  comprehend  the  United  States.  It  is  a  co- 
operative effort,  necessarily.  You  can  not  perform  the  func- 
tions of  this  Chamber  of  Commerce  without  drawing  in  not 
only  a  vast  number  of  men,  but  men,  and  a  number  of  men, 
from  every  region  and  section  of  the  country.  The  minute 
this  association  falls  into  the  hands,  if  it  ever  should,  of  men 
from  a  single  section  or  men  with,  a  single  set  of  interests 
most  at  heart,  it  will  go  to  seed  and  die.  Its  strength  must 
come  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  land  and  must  be 
compounded  of  brains  and  comprehensions  of  every  sort.  It 
is  a  very  noble  and  handsome  picture  for  the  imagination, 
and  I  have  asked  myself  before  I  came  here  to-day,  what 
relation  you  could  bear  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  and  what  relation  the  Government  could  bear  to 
you? 

There  are  two  aspects  and  activities  of  the  Government 
with  which  you  will  naturally  come  into  most  direct  contact. 
The  first  is  the  Government's  power  of  inquiry,  systematic 
and  disinterested  inquiry,  and  its  power  of  scientific  assist- 
ance. You  get  an  illustration  of  the  latter,  for  example,  in 
the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Has  it  occurred  to  you,  I 
wonder,  that  we  are  just  upon  the  eve  of  a  time  when  our 
Department  of  Agriculture  will  be  of  infinite  importance  to 
the  whole  world?  There  is  a  shortage  of  food  in  the  world 
now.  That  shortage  will  be  much  more  serious  a  few  months 
from  now  than  it  is  now.  It  is  necessary  that  we  should 
plant  a  great  deal  more ;  it  is  necessary  that  our  lands  should 
yield  more  per  acre  than  they  do  now;  it  is  necessary  that 
there  should  not  be  a  plow  or  a  spade  idle  in  this  country 
if  the  world  is  to  be  fed.  And  the  methods  of  our  farmers 
must  feed  upon  the  scientific  information  to  be  derived  from 
the  State  departments  of  agriculture,  and  from  that  taproot 
of  all,  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  The 
object  and  use  of  that  Department  is  to  inform  men  of  the 
latest  developments  and  disclosures  of  science  with  regard 
to  all  the  processes  by  which  soils  can  be  put  to  their  proper 
use  and  their  fertility  made  the  greatest  possible.  Similarly 
with  the  Bureau  of  Standards.    It  is  ready  to  supply  those 


74        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1915 

things  by  which  you  can  set  norms,  you  can  set  bases,  for 
all  the  scientific  processes  of  business. 

I  have  a  great  admiration  for  the  scientific  parts  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  it  has  amazed  me 
that  so  few  men  have  discovered  them.  Here  in  these  de- 
partments are  quiet  men,  trained  to  the  highest  degree  of 
skill,  serving  for  a  petty  remuneration  along  lines  that  are 
Infinitely  useful  to  mankind;  and  yet  in  some  cases  they 
waited  to  be  discovered  until  this  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  the  United  States  was  established.  Coming  to  this  city, 
officers  of  that  association  found  that  there  were  here  things 
that  wej'e  infinitely  useful  to  them  and  with  which  the  whole 
United  States  ought  to  be  put  into  commimication. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  very  properly 
a  great  instrumentality  of  inquiry  and  information.  One 
thing  we  are  just  beginning  to  do  that  we  ought  to  have 
done  long  ago:  We  ought  long  ago  to  have  had  our  Bureau 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce.  We  ought  long  ago 
to  have  sent  the  best  eyes  of  the  Government  out  into  the 
world  to  see  where  the  opportunities  and  openings  of  Ameri- 
can commerce  and  American  genius  were  to  be  found — men 
who  were  not  sent  out  as  the  commercial  agents  of  any 
particular  set  of  business  men  in  the  United  States,  but  who 
were  eyes  for  the  whole  business  community.  I  have  been 
reading  consular  reports  for  twenty  years.  In  what  I  came 
to  regard  as  an  evil  day  the  Congressman  from  my  district 
began  to  send  me  the  consular  reports,  and  they  ate  up  more 
and  more  of  my  time.  They  are  very  interesting,  but  they 
are  a  good  deal  like  what  the  old  lady  said  of  the  dictionary, 
that  it  was  very  interesting  but  a  little  disconnected.  You 
get  a  picture  of  the  world  as  if  a  spotlight  were  being  dotted 
about  over  the  surface  of  it.  Here  you  see  a  glimpse  of  this, 
and  here  you  see  a  glimpse  of  that,  and  through  the  medium 
of  some  consuls  you  do  not  see  anything  at  all;  because 
the  consul  has  to  have  eyes  and  the  consul  has  to  know 
what  he  is  looking  for.  A  literary  friend  of  mine  said  that 
he  used  to  believe  in  the  maxim  that  "everything  comes  to 
the  man  who  waits,"  but  he  discovered  after  awhile  by 
practical  experience  that  it  needed  an  additional  clause, 
"provided  he  knows  what  he  is  waiting  for."     Unless  you 


Feb.  3]  NATIONAL  COMMERCE  75 

know  what  you  are  looking  for  and  have  trained  eyes  to  see 
it  when  it  comes  your  way,  it  may  pass  you  unnoticed.  We 
are  just  beginning  to  do,  systematically  and  scientifically, 
what  we  ought  long  ago  to  have  done,  to  employ  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  to  survey  the  world  in  order  that 
American  commerce  might  be  guided. 

But  there  are  other  ways  of  using  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  ways  that  have  long  been  tried,  though  no': 
always  with  conspicuous  success  or  fortunate  results.  Ycu 
can  use  the  Government  of  the  United  States  by  influencing 
its  legislation.  That  has  been  a  very  active  industry,  but 
it  has  not  always  been  managed  in  the  interest  of  the  whole 
j)eople.  It  is  very  instructive  and  useful  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  to  have  such  means  as  you  are 
ready  to  supply  for  getting  a  sort  of  consensus  of  opinion 
which  proceeds  from  no  particular  quarter  and  originates 
with  no  particular  interest.  Information  is  the  very  founda- 
tion of  aJl  right  action  in  legislation.  *  *  * 

The  trouble  has  been  that  when  they  [the  men  on  the  m- 
side  of  business]  came  in  the  past — for  I  think  the  thing  is 
changing  very  rapidly — they  came  with  all  their  bristles  out; 
they  came  on  the  defensive;  they  came  to  see,  not  what  they 
could  "accomplish,  but  what  they  could  prevent.  They  did  not 
come  to  guide;  they  came  to  block.  That  is  of  no  use  what- 
ever to  the  general  body  politic.  What  has  got  to  pervade 
us  like  a  great  motive  power  is  that  we  cannot,  and  must 
not,  separate  our  interests  from  one  another,  but  must  pool 
our  interests.  A  man  who  is  trying  to  fight  for  his  single 
hand  is  fighting  against  the  community  and  not  fighting  with 
it.  There  are  a  great  many  dreadful  things  about  war,  as 
nobody  needs  to  be  told  in  this  day  of  distress  and  of  terror, 
but  'there  is  one  thing  about  war  which  has  a  very  splendid 
side,  and  that  is  the  consciousness  that  a  whole  nation  gets 
that  they  must  all  act  as  a  unit  for  a  common  end.  And 
when  peace  is  as  handsome  as  war  there  will  be  no  war. 
When  men,  I  mean,  engage  in  the  pursuits  of  peace  in  the 
same  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  of  conscious  service  of  the 
community  with  which,  at  any  rate,  the  common  soldier 
tngages  in  war,  then  shall  there  be  wars  no  more.  You 
have  moved  the  vanguard  for  the  United  States  in  the  pur- 


76        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [19 15 

poses  of  this  association  just  a  little  nearer  that  ideal.    That 
is  the  reason  I  am  here,  because  I  believe  it.  *  *  * 

There  are  thinking  spaces  in  this  country,  and  some  of  the 
thinking  done  is  very  solid  thinking  indeed,  the  thinking 
of  the  sort  of  men  that  we  all  love  best,  who  think  for  them- 
selves, who  do  not  see  things  as  they  are  told  to  see  them, 
but  look  at  them  and  see  them  independently;  who,  if  they 
are  told  they  are  white  when  they  are  black,  plainly  say 
that  they  are  black — ^men  with  eyes  and  with  a  courage 
back  of  those  eyes  to  tell  what  they  see.  The  country  is 
full  of  those  men.  They  have  been  singularly  reticent  some- 
times, singularly  silent,  but  the  coimtry  is  full  of  them. 
And  what  I  rejoice  in  is  that  you  have  called  them  into  the 
ranks.  For  your  methods  are  bound  to  be  democratic  in 
spite  of  you.  I  do  not  mean  democratic  with  a  big  "D," 
though  I  have  a  private  conviction  that  you  can  not  be 
democratic  with  a  small  "d"  long  without  becoming  demo- 
cratic with  a  big  "D."  Still  that  is  just  between  ourselves. 
The  point  is  that  when  we  have  a  consensus  of  opinion,  when 
we  have  this  common  counsel,  then  the  legislative  processes 
of  this  Government  will  be  infinitely  illuminated.  *  *  * 

That  is  the  ideal  of  a  government  like  ours,  and  an  inter- 
esting thing  is  that  if  you  only  talk  about  an  idea  that  will 
not  work  long  enough,  everybody  will  see  perfectly  plainly 
that  it  will  not  work;  whereas,  if  you  do  not  talk  about  it, 
and  do  not  have  a  great  many  people  talk  about  it,  you  are 
in  danger  of  having  the  people  who  handle  it  think  that  it 
will  work.  Many  minds  are  necessary  to  compound  a 
workable  method  of  life  in  a  various  and  populous  country; 
and  as  I  think  about  the  whole  thing  and  picture  the  pur- 
poses, the  infinitely  difficult  and  complex  purposes  which 
we  must  conceive  and  carry  out,  not  only  does  it  minister 
to  my  own  modesty,  I  hope,  of  opinion,  but  it  also  fills  me 
with  a  very  great  enthusiasm.  It  is  a  splendid  thing  to  be 
part  of  a  great  wide-awake  nation.  It  is  a  splendid  thing 
to  know  that  your  own  strength  is  infinitely  multiplied  by 
the  strength  of  other  men  who  love  the  country  as  you  do. 
It  is  a  splendid  thing  to  feel  that  the  wholesome  blood  of  a 
great  country  can  be  united  in  common  purposes,  and  that 
by  frankly  looking  one  another  in  the  face  and  taking  coim- 


Feb.  3]  NATIONAL  COMMERCE  77 

sel  with  one  another,  prejudices  will  drop  away,  handsome 
understandings  will  arise,  a  universal  spirit  of  service  will  be 
engendered,  and  that  with  this  increased  sense  of  community 
of  purpose  will  come  a  vastly  enhanced  individual  power  of 
achievement;  for  we  will  be  lifted  by  the  whole  mass  of 
which  we  constitute  a  part. 

Have  you  never  heard  a  great  chorus  of  trained  voices 
lift  the  voice  of  the  prima  donna  as  if  it  soared  with  easy 
grace  above  the  whole  melodious  sound?  It  does  not  seem 
to  come  from  the  single  throat  that  produces  it.  It  seems 
as  if  it  were  the  perfect  accent  and  crown  of  the  great  chorus. 
So  it  ought  to  be  with  the  statesman.  So  it  ought  to  be  with 
every  man  who  tries  to  guide  the  counsels  of  a  great  nation. 
He  should  feel  that  his  voice  is  lifted  upon  the  chorus  and 
that  it  is  only  the  crown  of  the  common  theme. 

Issued  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 


25.    S  CONFUSED  WORLD  AT  WAR 

(April  8,  191S) 

Address  to  the  Conference  of  Methodist  Protestant 
Church  at  Washington 

*  *  *  These  are  days  of  very  great  perplexity,  when  a 
great  cloud  of  trouble  hangs  and  broods  over  the  greater  part 
of  the  world.  It  seems  as  if  great,  blind  material  forces  had 
been  released  which  had  for  long  been  held  in  leash  and 
restraint.  And  yet,  imdemeath  that  you  can  see  the  strong 
impulses  of  great  ideals. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  men  to  go  through  what  men 
are  going  throu^  on  the  battlefields  of  Europe — to  go 
through  the  present  dark  night  of  their  terrible  struggle — if 
it  were  not  that  they  saw,  or  thought  that  they  saw,  the 
broadening  of  light  where  the  morning  sim  should  come  up, 
and  believed  that  they  were  standing,  each  on  his  side  of  the 
contest,  for  some  eternal  principle  for  right. 

Then,  all  about  them,  all  about  us,  there  sits  the  silent, 


78        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [19 15 

waiting  tribunal  which  is  going  to  utter  the  ultimate  judg- 
ment upon  this  struggle,  the  great  tribunal  of  the  opinion 
of  the  world,  and  I  fancy  I  see,  I  hope  that  I  see,  I  pray 
that  it  may  be  that  I  do  truly  see  great  spiritual  forces  lying 
waiting  for  the  outcome  of  this  thing  to  assert  themselves, 
and  asserting  themselves  even  now,  to  enlighten  our  judg- 
ment and  steady  our  spirits.  No  man  is  wise  enough  to 
pronoimce  judgment,  but  we  can  all  hold  our  spirits  in  readi- 
ness to  accept  the  truth  when  it  dawns  on  us  and  is  revealed 
to  us  in  the  outcome  of  this  titanic  struggle. 

You  will  see  that  it  is  only  in  such  general  terms  that  one 
can  speak  in  the  midst  of  a  confused  world,  because,  as  I 
have  already  said,  no  man  has  the  key  to  this  confusion. 
No  man  can  see  the  outcome,  but  every  man  can  keep  his 
own  spirit  prepared  to  contribute  to  the  net  result  when  the 
outcome  displays  itself.  *  *  * 

New  York  Times,  April  9,  19 15. 

24.    AMERICA  FIRST 

(April  20,  1915) 

Address  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Associated  Press  at 
New  York 

I  am  deeply  gratified  by  the  generous  reception  you  have 
accorded  me.  It  makes  me  look  back  with  a  touch  of  regret 
to  former  occasions  when  I  have  stood  in  this  place  and 
enjoyed  a  greater  liberty  than  is  granted  me  to-day.  There 
have  been  times  when  I  stood  in  this  spot  and  said  what  I 
really  thought,  and  I  can  not  help  praying  that  those  days 
of  indulgence  may  be  accorded  me  again.  I  have  come  here 
to-day,  of  course,  somewhat  restrained  by  a  sense  of  respon- 
sibility which  I  cannot  escape.  For  I  take  the  Associated 
Press  very  seriously.  I  know  the  enormous  part  that  you 
play  in  the  affairs  not  only  of  this  country  but  of  the  world. 
You  deal  in  the  raw  material  of  opinion  and,  if  my  convic- 
tions have  any  validity,  opinion  ultimately  governs  the  world. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  very  serious  things  that  I  think  as  I 


Apr.  20]  AMERICA  FIRST  79 

face  this  body  of  men.  I  do  not  think  of  you,  however,  as 
members  of  the  Associated  Press.  I  do  not  think  of  you 
as  men  of  different  parties  or  of  different  racial  derivations 
or  of  different  religious  denominations.  I  want  to  talk  to 
you  as  to  my  fellow  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  there 
are  serious  things  which  as  fellow  citizens  we  ought  to  con- 
sider. The  times  behind  us,  gentlemen,  have  been  difficult 
enough;  the  times  before  us  are  likely  to  be  more  difficult 
still,  because,  whatever  may  be  said  about  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  world's  affairs,  it  is  clear  that  they  are  drawing 
rapidly  to  a  climax,  and  at  the  climax  the  test  will  come,  not 
only  for  the  nations  engaged  in  the  present  colossal  struggle 
— it  will  come  to  them,  of  course — ^but  the  test  will  come  for 
us  particularly. 

Do  you  realize  that,  roughly  speaking,  we  are  the  only 
great  Nation  at  present  disengaged?  I  am  not  speaking, 
of  course,  with  disparagement  of  the  greatness  of  those 
nations  in  Europe  which  are  not  parties  to  the  present  war, 
but  I  am  thinking  of  their  close  neighborhood  to  it.  I  am 
thinking  how  their  lives  much  more  than  ours  touch  the 
very  heart  and  stuff  of  the  business,  whereas  we  have  rolling 
between  us  and  those  bitter  days  across  the  water  3,000 
miles  of  cool  and  silent  ocean.  Our  atmosphere  is  not  yet 
charged  with  those  disturbing  elements  which  must  permeate 
every  nation  of  Europe.  Therefore,  is  it  not  likely  that 
the  nations  of  the  world  will  some  day  turn  to  us  for  the 
cooler  assessment  of  the  elements  engaged?  I  am  not  now 
thinking  so  preposterous  a  thought  as  that  we  should  sit  in 
judgment  upon  them — no  nation  is  fit  to  sit  in  judgment 
upon  any  other  nation — but  that  we  shall  some  day  have 
to  assist  in  reconstructing  the  processes  of  peace.  Our  re- 
sources are  untouched;  we  are  more  and  more  becoming  by 
the  force  of  circumstances  the  mediating  Nation  of  the  world 
in  respect  of  its  finance.  We  must  make  up  our  minds  what 
are  the  best  things  to  do  and  what  are  the  best  ways  to  do 
them.  We  must  put  our  money,  our  energy,  our  enthusiasm, 
our  sympathy  into  these  things,  and  we  must  have  our  judg- 
ments prepared  and  our  spirits  chastened  against  the  coming 
of  that  day. 

So  that  I  am  not  speaking  in  a  selfish  spirit  when  I  say 


8o        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1915 

that  our  whole  duty,  for  the  present  at  any  rate,  is  summed 
up  in  this  motto,  "America  first."  Let  us  think  of  America 
before  we  think  of  Europe,  in  order  that  America  may  be 
fit  to  be  Europe's  friend  when  the  day  of  tested  friendship 
comes.  The  test  of  friendship  is  not  now  sympathy  with 
the  one  side  or  the  other,  but  getting  ready  to  help  both 
sides  when  the  struggle  is  over.  The  basis  of  neutrality, 
gentlemen,  is  not  indifference;  it  is  not  self-interest.  The 
basis  of  neutrality  is  sympathy  for  mankind.  It  is  fairness, 
it  is  good  will,  at  bottom.  It  is  impartiality  of  spirit  and  of 
judgment.  I  wish  that  all  of  our  fellow  citizens  could  realize 
that.  There  is  in  some  quarters  a  disposition  to  create  dis- 
tempers in  this  body  politic.  Men  are  even  uttering  slanders 
against  the  United  States,  as  if  to  excite  her.  Men  are 
saying  that  if  we  should  go  to  war  upon  either  side  there 
would  be  a  divided  America — an  abominable  libel  of  igno- 
rance! America  is  not  all  of  it  vocal  just  now.  It  is  vocal 
in  spots,  but  I,  for  one,  have  a  complete  and  abiding  faith 
in  that  great  silent  body  of  Americans  who  are  not  standing 
up  and  shouting  and  expressing  their  opinions  just  now, 
but  are  waiting  to  find  out  and  support  the  duty  of  America. 
I  am  just  as  sure  of  their  solidity  and  of  their  loyalty  and 
of  their  unanimity,  if  we  act  justly,  as  I  am  that  the  history 
of  this  country  has  at  every  crisis  and  turning  point  illus- 
trated this  great  lesson. 

We  are  the  mediating  Nation  of  the  world.  I  do  not 
mean  that  we  undertake  not  to  mind  our  own  business  and 
to  mediate  where  other  people  are  quarreling.  I  mean 
the  word  in  a  broader  sense.  We  are  compounded  of  the 
nations  of  the  world;  we  mediate  their  blood,  we  mediate 
their  traditions,  we  mediate  their  sentiments,  their  tastes, 
their  passions,  we  are  ourselves  compounded  of  those  things. 
We  are,  therefore,  able  to  understand  all  nations;  we  are 
able  to  understand  them  in  the  compound,  not  separately, 
ai  partisans,  but  unitedly  as  knowing  and  comprehending 
and  embodying  them  all.  It  is  in  that  sense  that  I  mean 
that  America  is  a  mediating  Nation.  The  opinion  of  America, 
the  action  of  America,  is  ready  to  turn,  and  free  to  turn,  in 
any  direction.  Did  you  ever  reflect  upon  how  almost  every 
other  nation  has  through  long  centuries  been  headed  in  one 


Apr.  20]  AMERICA  FIRST  81 

direction?  That  is  not  true  of  the  United  States.  The 
United  States  has  no  racial  momentum.  It  has  no  history 
back  of  it  which  makes  it  run  all  its  energies  and  all  its 
ambitions  in  one  particular  direction.  And  America  is  par- 
ticularly free  in  this,  that  she  has  no  hampering  ambitions 
as  a  world  power.  We  do  not  want  a  foot  of  anybody's 
territory.  If  we  have  been  obliged  by  circumstances,  or 
have  considered  ourselves  to  be  obliged  by  circumstances,  in 
the  past,  to  take  territory  which  we  otherwise  would  not 
have  thought  of  taking,  I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that 
we  have  considered  it  our  duty  to  administer  that  territory, 
not  for  ourselves  but  for  the  people  living  in  it,  and  to  put 
this  burden  upon  our  consciences — not  to  think  that  this 
thing  is  ours  for  our  use,  but  to  regard  ourselves  as  trustees 
of  the  great  business  for  those  to  whom  it  does  really  belong, 
trustees  ready  to  hand  it  over  to  the  cestui  que  trust  at  any 
time  when  the  business  seems  to  make  that  possible  and 
feasible.  That  is  what  I  mean  by  saying  we  have  no  ham- 
pering ambitions.  We  do  not  want  anything  that  does  not 
belong  to  us.  Is  not  a  nation  in  that  position  free  to  serve 
other  nations,  and  is  not  a  nation  like  that  ready  to  form 
some  part  of  the  assessing  opinion  of  the  world? 

My  interest  in  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  is  not 
the  petty  desire  to  keep  out  of  trouble.     To  judge  by  my 
experience,  I  have  never  been  able  to  keep  out  of  trouble.    I 
have  never  looked  for  it,  but  I  have  always  found  it.    I  do 
not  want  to  walk  around  trouble.    If  any  man  wants  a  scrap 
that  is  an  interesting  scrap  and  worth  while,  I  am  his  man. 
I  warn  him  that  he  is  not  going  to  draw  me  into  the  scrap 
for  his  advertisement,  but  if  he  is  looking  for  trouble  that 
;  is  the  trouble  of  men  in  general  and  I  can  help  a  little,  why, 
j  then,  I  am  in  for  it.    But  I  am  interested  in  neutraHty  be- 
i  cause  there  is  something  so  much  greater  to  do  than  fight; 
there  is  a  distinction  waiting  for  this  Nation  that  no  nation 
1  has  ever  yet  got.    That  is  the  distinction  of  absolute  self- 
control  and  self-mastery.    Whom  do  you  admire  most  among 
I  your  friends?    The  irritable  man?     The  man  out  of  whom 
!  you  can  get  a  "rise"  without  trying?     The  man  who  will 
I  fight  at  the  drop  of  the  hat,  whether  he  knows  what  the  hat 
I  is  dropped  for  or  not?     Don't  you  admire  and  don't  you 


S2        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

fear,  if  you  have  to  contest  with  him,  the  self-mastered  man 
who  watches  you  with  calm  eye  and  comes  in  only  when  you 
have  carried  the  thing  so  far  that  you  must  be  disposed  of? 
That  is  the  man  you  respect.  That  is  the  man  who,  you 
loiow,  has  at  bottom  a  much  more  fundamental  and  ter- 
rible courage  than  the  irritable,  fighting  man.  Now,  I  covet 
for  America  this  splendid  courage  of  reserve  moral  force, 
and  I  wanted  to  point  out  to  you  gentlemen  simply  this: 

There  is  news  and  news.  There  is  what  is  called  news 
from  Turtle  Bay  that  turns  out  to  be  falsehood,  at  any 
rate  in  what  it  is  said  to  signify,  but  which,  if  you  could 
get  the  Nation  to  believe  it  true,  might  disturb  our  equi- 
librium and  our  self-possession.  We  ought  not  to  deal  in 
stuff  of  that  kind.  We  ought  not  to  permit  that  sort  of 
thing  to  use  up  the  electrical  energy  of  the  wires,  because 
its  energy  is  malign,  its  energy  is  not  of  the  truth,  its  energy 
is  of  mischief.  It  is  possible  to  sift  truth.  I  have  known 
some  things  to  go  out  on  the  wires  as  true  when  there  was 
only  one  man  or  one  group  of  men  who  could  have  told  the 
originators  of  that  report  whether  it  was  true  or  not,  and  they 
were  not  asked  whetiier  it  was  true  or  not  for  fear  it  might 
not  be  true.  That  sort  of  report  ought  not  to  go  out  over 
the  wires.  There  is  generally,  if  not  always,  somebody  who 
knows  whether  the  thing  is  so  or  not,  and  in  these  days, 
above  all  other  days,  we  ought  to  take  particular  pains  to 
resort  to  the  one  small  group  of  men,  or  to  the  one  man  if 
there  be  but  one,  who  knows  whether  those  things  are  true 
or  not.  The  world  ought  to  know  the  truth;  the  world 
ought  not  at  this  period  of  unstable  equilibrium  to  be  dis- 
turbed by  rumor,  ought  not  to  be  disturbed  by  imaginative 
combinations  of  circumstances,  or,  rather,  by  circumstances 
stated  in  combination  which  do  not  belong  in  combination. 
You  gentlemen,  and  gentlemen  engaged  like  you,  are  holding 
the  balances  in  your  hand.  This  unstable  equilibrium  rests 
upon  scales  that  are  in  your  hands.  For  the  food  of  opinion, 
as  I  began  by  saying,  is  the  news  of  the  day.  I  have 
known  many  a  man  to  go  off  at  a  tangent  on  information 
that  was  not  reliable.  Indeed,  that  describes  the  majority  of 
men.  The  world  is  held  stable  by  the  man  who  waits  for  the 
next  day  to  find  out  whether  the  report  was  true  or  not. 


Apr.  2oJ  AMERICA  FIRST  83 

We  cannot  afford,  therefore,  to  let  the  rumors  of  irre- 
sponsible persons  and  origins  get  into  the  atmosphere  of 
th^  United  States,  We  are  trustees  for  what  I  venture  to 
say  IS  the  greatest  heritage  that  any  nation  ever  had,  the 
love  of  justice  and  righteousness  and  human  Uberty.  For, 
fundamentally,  those  are  the  things  to  which  America  is 
addicted  and  to  which  she  is  devoted.  There  are  groups  of 
selfish  men  in  the  United  States,  there  are  coteries,  where 
sinister  things  are  purposed,  but  the  great  heart  of  the 
American  people  is  just  as  sound  and  true  as  it  ever  was. 
And  it  is  a  single  heart;  it  is  the  heart  of  America.  It 
k  not  a  heart  made  up  of  sections  selected  out  of  other 
coi:ir?  tries. 

Wbai:  I  try  to  remind  myself  of  every  day  when  I  am 
almost  overcome  by  perplexities,  what  I  try  to  remember, 
is  what  the  people  at  home  are  thinking  about.  I  try  to  put 
myself  in  the  place  of  the  man  who  does  not  know  all  the 
things  that  I  know  and  ask  myself  what  he  would  like  the 
policy  of  this  country  to  be.  Not  the  talkative  man,  not 
the  partisan  man,  not  the  man  who  remembers  first  that 
he  is  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat,  or  that  his  parents  were 
German  or  English,  but  the  man  who  remembers  first  that 
the  whole  destiny  of  modern  affairs  centers  largely  upon  his 
being  an  American  first  of  all.  If  I  permitted  myself  to  be  a 
partisan  in  this  present  struggle,  I  would  be  unworthy  to 
represent  you.  If  I  permitted  myself  to  forget  the  people 
who  are  not  partisans,  I  would  be  unworthy  to  be  your 
spokesman.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  am  worthy  to  represent 
you,  but  I  do  claim  this  degree  of  worthiness — that  before 
everything  else  I  love  America. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 

25.    THE  LAWS  OF  NEUTRALITY 

(April  21,  1915) 

Despatch  Sent  Through  Secretary  Bryan  to  Germany 

*  *  *  In  the  first  place,  this  Government  has  at  no  time 
and  in  no  manner  yielded  any  one  of  its  rights  as  a  neutral 


84        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

to  any  of  the  present  belligerents.  It  has  acknowledged,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  the  right  of  visit  and  search  and  the 
right  to  apply  the  rules  of  contraband  of  war  to  articles  of 
commerce.  It  has,  indeed,  insisted  upon  the  use  of  visit  and 
search  as  an  absolutely  necessary  safeguard  against  mistak- 
ing neutral  vessels  for  vessels  owned  by  an  enemy  and 
against  mistaking  legal  cargoes  for  illegal.  It  has  admitted 
also  the  right  of  blockade  if  actually  exercised  and  effectively 
maintained.  These  are  merely  the  well-known  limitations 
which  war  places  upon  neutral  commerce  on  the  high  seas. 
But  nothing  beyond  these  has  it  conceded.  I  call  Your 
Excellency's  attention  to  this,  notwithstanding  it  is  already 
known  to  all  the  world  as  a  consequence  of  the  publication 
of  our  correspondence  in  regard  to  these  matters  with  sev- 
eral of  the  belligerent  nations,  because  I  can  not  assume 
that  you  have  official  cognizance  of  it. 

In  the  second  place,  this  Government  attempted  to  se- 
cure from  the  German  and  British  Governments  mutual 
concessions  with  regard  to  the  measures  those  Governments 
respectively  adopted  for  the  interruption  of  trade  on  the 
high  seas.  This  it  did,  not  of  right,  but  merely  as  exer- 
cising the  privileges  of  a  sincere  friend  of  both  parties  and 
as  indicating  its  impartial  good  will.  The  attempt  was  un- 
successful; but  I  regret  that  Your  Excellency  did  not  deem 
it  worthy  of  mention  in  modification  of  the  impressions 
you  expressed.  We  had  hoped  that  this  act  on  our  part  had 
shown  our  spirit  in  these  times  of  distressing  war  as  our 
diplomatic  correspondence  had  shown  our  steadfast  refusal 
to  acknowledge  the  right  of  any  belligerent  to  alter  the 
accepted  rules  of  war  at  sea  in  so  far  as  they  affect  the  rights 
and  interests  of  neutrals. 

In  the  third  place,  I  note  with  sincere  regret  that,  in  dis- 
cussing the  sale  and  exportation  of  arms  by  citizens  of  the 
United  States  to  the  enemies  of  Germany,  Your  Excellency 
seems  to  be  under  the  impression  that  it  was  within  the 
choice  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  notwith- 
standing its  professed  neutrality  and  its  diligent  efforts  to 
maintain  it  in  other  particulars,  to  inhibit  this  trade,  and 
that  its  failure  to  do  so  manifested  an  unfar  attitude  toward 
Germany.    This  Government  holds,  as  I  believe  Your  Ex- 


Apr.  2i]        THE  LAWS  OF  NEUTRALITY  85 

cellency  is  aware,  and  as  it  is  constrained  to  hold  in  view  of 
the  present  indisputable  doctrines  of  accepted  international 
law,  that  any  change  in  its  own  laws  of  neutrality  during 
the  progress  of  a  war  which  would  affect  unequally  the 
relations  of  the  United  States  with  the  nations  at  war  would 
be  an  unjustifiable  departure  from  the  principle  of  strict 
neutrality  by  which  it  has  consistently  sought  to  direct  its 
actions,  and  I  respectfully  submit  that  none  of  the  circum- 
stances urged  in  Your  Excellency's  memorandum  alters  the 
principle  involved.  The  placing  of  an  embargo  on  the  trade 
in  arms  at  the  present  time  would  constitute  such  a  change 
and  be  a  direct  violation  of  the  neutrality  of  the  United 
States.  It  will,  I  feel  assured,  be  clear  to  Your  Excellency 
that,  holding  this  view  and  considering  itself  in  honor  boimd 
by  it,  it  is  out  of  the  question  for  this  Government  to  con- 
sider such  a  course.  *  *  * 

Department  of  State,  White  Book,  No.  I,  74. 

26.     CITIZENS  OF  FOREIGN  BIRTH 

(May  10,  1915) 

Address  to  Naturalized  Citizens  at  Convention  Hall, 
Philadelphia 

It  warms  my  heart  that  you  should  give  me  such  a  recep- 
tion; but  it  is  not  of  myself  that  I  wish  to  think  to-night, 
but  of  those  who  have  just  become  citizens  of  the  United 
States. 

This  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  experiences 
this  constant  and  repeated  rebirth.  Other  countries  depend 
upon  the  multiplication  of  their  own  native  people.  This 
country  is  constantly  drinking  strength  out  of  new  sources 
by  the  voluntary  association  with  it  of  great  bodies  of  strong 
men  and  forward-looking  women  out  of  other  lands.  And 
so  by  the  gift  of  the  free  will  of  independent  people  it  is 
being  constantly  renewed  from  generation  to  generation  by 
the  same  process  by  which  it  was  originally  created.  It  is 
as  if  humanity  had  determined  to  see  to  it  that  this  great 


86        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

Nation,  founded  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  should  not  lack 
for  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the  world. 

You  have  just  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.  Of  allegiance  to  whom?  Of  allegiance  to  no  one, 
unless  it  be  God — certainly  not  of  allegiance  to  those  who 
temporarily  represent  this  great  Government.  You  have 
taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  great  ideal,  to  a  great  body 
of  principles,  to  a  great  hope  of  the  human  race.  You  have 
said,  "We  are  going  to  America  not  only  to  earn  a  living, 
not  only  to  seek  the  things  which  it  was  more  difficult  to 
obtain  where  we  were  bom,  but  to  help  forward  the  great 
enterprises  of  the  human  spirit — to  let  men  know  that  every- 
where in  the  world  there  are  men  who  will  cross  strange 
oceans  and  go  where  a  speech  is  spoken  which  is  alien  to 
them  if  they  can  but  satisfy  their  quest  for  what  their  spirits 
crave;  knowing  that  whatever  the  speech  there  is  but  one 
longing  and  utterance  of  the  human  heart,  and  that  is  for 
liberty  and  justice.''  And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with 
you,  you  come  with  a  purpose  of  leaving  all  other  countries 
behind  you — ^bringing  what  is  best  of  their  spirit,  but  not 
looking  over  your  shoulders  and  seeking  to  perpetuate  what 
you  intended  to  leave  behind  in  them.  I  certainly  would  not 
be  one  even  to  suggest  that  a  man  cease  to  love  the  home 
of  his  birth  and  the  nation  of  his  origin — these  things  are 
very  sacred  and  ought  not  to  be  put  out  of  our  hearts — 
but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place  where  you  were  born 
and  it  is  another  thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to  the  place  to 
which  you  go.  You  can  not  dedicate  yourself  to  America 
unless  you  become  in  every  resi>ect  and  with  every  purpose 
of  your  will  thorough  Americans.  You  can  not  become 
Americans  if  you  think  of  yourselves  in  groups.  America 
does  not  consist  of  groups.  A  man  who  thinks  of  himself  as 
belonging  to  a  particular  national  group  in  America  has  not 
yet  become  an  American,  and  the  man  who  goes  among  you 
to  trade  upon  your  nationality  is  no  worthy  son  to  live  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  v/ould  be,  not  only  always  to 
think  first  of  America,  but  always,  also,  to  think  first  of 
humanity.  You  do  not  love  humanity  if  you  seek  to  divide 
iiumanity  into  jealous  camps.    Humanity  can  be  welded  to- 


May  lo]      CITIZENS  OF  FOREIGN  BIRTH  87 

gether  only  by  love,  by  sympathy,  by  justice,  not  by  jeal- 
ousy and  hatred.  I  am  sorry  for  the  man  who  seeks  to  make 
personal  capital  out  of  the  passions  of  his  fellow-men.  He 
has  lost  the  touch  and  ideal  of  America,  for  America  was 
created  to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions  which  lift  and 
not  by  the  passions  which  separate  and  debase.  We  came 
to  America,  either  ourselves  or  in  the  persons  of  our  an- 
cestors, to  better  the  ideals  of  men,  to  make  them  see  finer 
things  than  they  had  seen  before,  to  get  rid  of  the  things 
that  divide  and  to  make  sure  of  the  things  that  unite.  It 
was  but  an  historical  accident  no  doubt  that  this  great  country 
was  called  the  "United  States";  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that 
it  has  that  word  "United"  in  its  title,  and  the  man  who  seeks 
to  divide  man  from  man,  group  from  group,  interest  from 
interest  in  this  great  Union  is  striking  at  its  very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance  to  me,  in  thinking 
of  those  of  you  who  have  just  sworn  allegiance  to  this  great 
Government,  that  you  were  drawn  across  the  ocean  by  some 
beckoning  finger  of  hope,  by  some  belief,  by  some  vision  of 
a  new  kind  of  justice,  by  some  expectation  of  a  better  kind 
of  life.  No  doubt  you  have  been  disappointed  in  some  of 
us.  Some  of  us  are  very  disappointing.  No  doubt  you  have 
found  that  justice  in  the  United  States  goes  only  with  a 
pure  heart  and  a  right  purpose  as  it  does  everywhere  else  in 
the  world.  No  doubt  w^hat  you  found  here  did  not  seem 
touched  for  you,  after  all,  with  the  complete  beauty  of  the 
ideal  which  you  had  conceived  beforehand.  But  remember 
this:  If  we  had  grown  at  all  poor  in  the  ideal,  you  brought 
some  of  it  with  you.  A  man  does  not  go  out  to  seek  the  thing 
that  is  not  in  him.  A  man  does  not  hope  for  the  thing  he 
does  not  believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us  have  forgotten  what 
America  believed  in,  you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in  your  own 
hearts  a  renewal  of  the  belief.  That  is  the  reason  that  I,  for 
one,  make  you  welcome.  If  I  have  in  any  degree  forgotten 
what  America  was  intended  for,  I  will  thank  God  if  you  will 
remind  me.  I  was  born  in  America.  You  dreamed  dreams 
of  what  America  was  to  be,  and  I  hope  you  brought  the 
dreams  with  you.  No  man  that  does  not  see  visions  v^'ll 
ever  realize  any  high  hope  or  undertake  any  high  enterprise. 
Just  because  you  brought  drear.-^?  Vvith  you,  America  is  m.ore 


88        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

likely  to  realize  dreams  such  as  you  brought.  You  are 
enriching  us  if  you  came  expecting  us  to  be  better  than 
we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It  means  that  Ameri- 
cans must  have  a  consciousness  different  from  the  conscious- 
ness of  every  other  nation  in  the  world.  I  am  not  saying 
this  with  even  the  slightest  thought  of  criticism  of  other 
nations.  You  know  how  it  is  with  a  family.  A  family  gets 
centered  on  itself  if  it  is  not  careful  and  is  less  interested  in 
the  neighbors  than  it  is  in  its  own  members.  So  a  nation 
that  is  not  constantly  renewed  out  of  new  sources  is  apt  to 
have  the  narrowness  and  prejudice  of  a  family;  whereas, 
America  must  have  this  consciousness,  that  on  all  sides  it 
touches  elbows  and  touches  hearts  with  all  the  nations  of 
mankind.  The  example  of  America  must  be  a  special  exam- 
ple. The  example  of  America  must  be  the  example  not 
merely  of  peace  because  it  will  not  fight,  but  of  peace  because 
peace  is  the  healing  and  elevating  influence  of  the  world  and 
strife  is  not.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too 
proud  to  fight.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so 
right  that  it  does  not  need  to  convince  others  by  force  that 
it  is  right. 

You  have  come  into  this  great  Nation  voluntarily  seeking 
something  that  we  have  to  give,  and  all  that  we  have  to 
give  is  this:  We  can  not  exempt  you  from  work.  No  man 
is  exempt  from  work  anywhere  in  the  world.  We  can  not 
exempt  you  from  the  strife  and  the  heartbreaking  burden  of 
the  struggle  of  the  day — that  is  common  to  mankind  every- 
where ;  we  can  not  exempt  you  from  the  loads  that  you  must 
carry.  We  can  only  make  them  light  by  the  spirit  in  which 
they  are  carried.  That  is  the  spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of  justice. 

When  I  was  asked,  therefore,  by  the  Mayor  and  the  com- 
mittee that  accompanied  him  to  come  up  from  Washington 
to  meet  this  great  company  of  newly  admitted  citizens,  I 
could  not  decline  the  invitation.  I  ought  not  to  be  away 
from  Washington,  and  yet  I  feel  that  it  has  renewed  my 
spirit  as  an  American  to  be  here.  In  Washington  men  tell 
you  so  many  things  every  day  that  are  not  so,  and  I  like  to 
come  and  stand  in  the  presence  of  a  great  body  of  my  fellow- 


May  lol      CITIZENS  OF  FOREIGN  BIRTH  89 

citizens,  wnether  they  have  been  my  fellow-citizens  a  long 
time  or  a  short  time,  and  drink,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  common 
fountains  with  them  and  go  back  feeling  what  you  have  so 
generously  given  me — the  sense  of  your  support  and  of  the 
living  vitality  in  your  hearts  of  the  great  ideals  which  have 
made  America  the  hope  of  the  world. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 

?7.     SINKING  OF  THE  "LUSITANIA" 
(May  13,  1915) 

Despatch  of  Protest  through  Secretary  Bryan  to 
Germany 

*  *  *  Recalling  the  humane  and  enlightened  attitude 
hitherto  assumed  by  the  Imperial  German  Government  in 
matters  of  international  right,  and  particularly  with  regard 
to  the  freedom  of  the  seas;  having  learned  to  recognize  the 
German  views  and  the  German  influence  in  the  field  of 
international  obligation  as  always  engaged  upon  the  side  of 
justice  and  humanity;  and  having  understood  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  its  naval  com- 
manders to  be  upon  the  same  plane  of  humane  action  pre- 
scribed by  the  naval  codes  of  other  nations,  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  was  loath  to  believe — it  can  not  now 
bring  itself  to  believe — that  these  acts,  so  absolutely  con- 
trary to  the  rules,  the  practices,  and  the  spirit  of  modem 
warfare,  could  have  the  countenance  or  sanction  of  that 
great  Government.  It  feels  it  to  be  its  duty,  therefore,  to 
address  the  Imperial  German  Government  concerning  them 
with  the  utmost  frankness  and  in  the  earnest  hope  that  it  is 
not  mistaken  in  expecting  action  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial 
German  Government  which  will  correct  the  unfortunate 
impressions  which  have  been  created  and  vindicate  once 
more  the  position  of  that  Government  with  regard  to  the 
sacred  freedom  of  the  seas. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  apprised 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  considered  themselves 
to  be  obHged  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of   the 


90        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 15 

present  war  and  the  measures  adopted  by  their  adversaries 
in  seeking  to  cut  Germany  off  from  all  commerce,  to  adopt 
methods  of  retaliation  which  go  much  beyond  the  ordinary 
methods  of  warfare  at  sea,  in  the  proclamation  of  a  war 
zone  from  which  they  have  warned  neutral  ships  to  keep 
away.  This  Government  has  already  taken  occasion  to  in- 
form the  Imperial  German  Government  that  it  can  not  admit 
ihe  adoption  of  such  measures  or  such  a  warning  of  danger 
to  operate  as  in  any  degree  an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  of 
American  shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens  bound  on  law- 
ful errands  as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent 
nationality;  and  that  it  must  hold  the  Imperial  German 
Government  to  a  strict  accountability  for  any  infringement 
of  those  rights,  intentional  or  incidental.  It  does  not  under- 
stand the  Imperial  German  Government  to  question  those 
rights.  It  assumes,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment accept,  as  of  course,  the  rule  that  the  lives  of  non- 
combatants,  whether  they  be  of  neutral  citizenship  or  citi« 
zens  of  one  of  the  nations  at  war,  can  not  lawfully  or  right- 
fully be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruction  of  an 
unarmed  merchantman,  and  recognize  also,  as  all  other  na- 
tions do,  the  obligation  to  take  the  usual  precaution  of  visit 
and  search  to  ascertain  whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is 
in  fact  of  belligerent  nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  con- 
traband of  war  under  a  neutral  flag.  *  *  * 

Department  of  State,  White  Book,  No.  I,  75. 


28.    WHAT  THE  FLAG  MEANS 

(June  14,  1915) 

Address  at  Flag  Day  Exercises,  Washington 

I  know  of  nothing  more  difficult  than  to  render  an  adequate 
tribute  to  the  emblem  of  our  nation.  For  those  of  us  who 
have  shared  that  nation's  life  and  felt  the  beat  of  its  pulse 
it  must  be  considered  a  matter  of  impossibility  to  express 
the  great  things  which  that  emblem  embodies.  I  venture  to 
say  that  a  great  many  things  are  said  about  the  flag  which 
very  few  people  stop  to  analyze.    For  me  the  flag  does  not 


June  14]  WHAT  THE  FLAG  MEANS  91 

express  a  mere  body  of  vague  sentiment.  The  flag  of  the 
United  States  has  not  been  created  by  rhetorical  sentences 
in  declarations  of  independence  and  in  bills  of  rights.  It  has 
been  created  by  the  experience  of  a  great  people,  and  nothing 
is  written  upon  it  that  has  not  been  written  by  their  life. 
It  is  the  embodiment,  not  of  a  sentiment,  but  of  a  history, 
and  no  man  can  rightly  serve  under  that  flag  who  has  not 
caught  some  of  the  meaning  of  that  history. 

Experience,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  made  by  men  and 
women.  National  experience  is  the  product  of  those  who  do 
the  living  under  that  flag.  It  is  their  living  that  has  created 
its  significance.  You  do  not  create  the  meaning  of  a  national 
life  by  any  literary  exposition  of  it,  but  by  the  actual  daily 
endeavors  of  a  great  people  to  do  the  tasks  of  the  day  and 
live  up  to  the  ideals  of  honesty  and  righteousness  and  just 
conduct.  And  as  we  think  of  these  things,  our  tribute  is 
to  those  men  who  have  created  this  experience.  Many  of 
them  are  known  by  name  to  all  the  world, — statesmen,  sol- 
diers, merchants,  masters  of  industry,  men  of  letters  and  of 
thought  who  have  coined  our  hearts  into  action  or  into 
words.  Of  these  men  we  feel  that  they  have  shown  us  the 
way.  They  have  not  been  afraid  to  go  before.  They  have 
known  that  they  were  speaking  the  thoughts  of  a  great  people 
when  they  led  that  great  people  along  the  paths  of  achieve- 
ment. There  was  not  a  single  swashbuckler  among  them. 
They  were  men  of  sober,  quiet  thought,  the  more  effective 
because  there  was  no  bluster  in  it.  They  were  men  who 
thought  along  the  lines  of  duty,  not  along  the  lines  of  self- 
aggrandizement.  They  were  men,  in  short,  who  thought  of 
the  people  whom  they  served  and  not  of  themselves. 

But  while  we  think  of  these  men  and  do  honor  to  them  as 
to  those  who  have  sho^vn  us  the  way,  let  us  not  forget  that 
the  real  experience  and  life  of  a  nation  lies  with  the  great 
multitude  of  unknown  men.  It  lies  with  those  men  whose 
names  are  never  in  the  headlines  of  newspapers,  those  men 
who  know  the  heat  and  pain  and  desperate  loss  of  hope  that 
sometimes  comes  in  the  great  struggle  of  daily  life;  not  the 
men  who  stand  on  the  side  and  comment,  not  the  men  who 
merely  try  to  interpret  the  great  struggle,  but  the  men  who 
are  engaged  in  the  struggle.    They  constitute  the  body  of  the 


92        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1915 

nation.  This  flag  is  the  essence  of  their  daily  endeavors. 
This  flag  does  not  express  any  more  than  what  they  are  and 
what  they  desire  to  be. 

As  I  think  of  the  life  of  this  great  nation  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  sometimes  look  to  the  wrong  places  for  its  sources. 
We  look  to  the  noisy  places,  where  men  are  talking  in  the 
market  place;  we  look  to  where  men  are  expressing  their 
individual  opinions;  we  look  to  where  partisans  are  express- 
ing passion:  instead  of  trying  to  attune  our  ears  to  that 
voiceless  mass  of  men  who  merely  go  about  their  daily  tasks, 
try  to  be  honorable,  try  to  serve  the  people  they  love,  try  to 
live  worthy  of  the  great  communities  to  which  they  belong. 
These  are  the  breath  of  the  nation's  nostrils;  these  are  the 
sinew  of  its  might. 

How  can  any  man  presume  to  interpret  the  emblem  of  the 
United  States,  the  emblem  of  what  we  would  fain  be  among 
the  family  of  the  nations,  and  find  it  incumbent  upon  us  to 
be  in  the  daily  roimd  of  routine  duty?  This  is  Flag  Day,  but 
that  only  means  that  it  is  a  day  when  we  are  to  recall  the 
things  which  we  should  do  every  day  of  our  lives.  There  are 
no  days  of  special  patriotism.  There  are  no  days  when  we 
should  be  more  patriotic  than  on  other  days.  We  celebrate 
the  Fourth  of  July  merely  because  the  great  enterprise  of 
liberty  was  started  on  the  Fourth  of  July  in  America,  but 
the  great  enterprise  of  liberty  was  not  begun  in  America. 
It  IS  illustrated  by  the  blood  of  thousands  of  martyrs  who 
lived  and  died  before  the  great  experiment  on  this  side  of  the 
water.  The  Fourth  of  July  merely  marks  the  day  when  we 
consecrated  ourselves  as  a  nation  to  this  high  thing  which 
we  pretend  to  serve.  The  benefit  of  a  day  like  this  is  merely 
in  turning  away  from  the  things  that  distract  us,  turning 
away  from  the  things  that  touch  us  personally  and  absorb  our 
interest  in  the  hours  of  daily  work.  We  remind  ourselves  of 
those  things  that  are  greater  than  we  are,  of  those  principles 
by  which  we  believe  our  hearts  to  be  elevated,  of  the  more 
difficult  things  that  we  must  undertake  in  these  days  of 
perplexity  when  a  man's  judgment  is  safest  only  when  it 
follows  the  line  of  principle. 

I  am  solemnized  in  the  presence  of  such  a  day.  I  would 
not  imdertake  to  speak  your  thoughts.    You  must  interpret 


June  14]  WHAT  THE  FLAG  MEANS  93 

them  for  me.  But  I  do  feel  that  back,  not  only  of  every 
public  official,  but  of  every  man  and  woman  of  the  United 
States,  there  marches  that  great  host  which  has  brought  us 
to  the  present  day;  the  host  that  has  never  forgotten  the 
vision  which  it  saw  at  the  birth  of  the  nation;  the  host  which 
always  responds  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  of  liberty; 
the  host  that  will  always  constitute  the  strength  and  the  great 
body  of  friends  of  every  man  who  does  his  duty  to  the  United 
States. 

I  am  sorry  that  you  do  not  wear  a  little  flag  of  the  Union 
every  day  instead  of  some  days.  I  can  only  ask  you,  if  you 
lose  the  physical  emblem,  to  be  sure  that  you  wear  it  in  your 
heart,  and  the  heart  of  America  shall  interpret  the  heart  of 
the  world. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


29.     PREPAREDNESS  FOR  DEFENSE 
(October  6,  19 15) 

Address  to  the  Civilian  Advisory  Board  of  the  Navy 
AT  the  White  House 

*  *  *  I  think  the  whole  nation  is  convinced  that  we  ought 
to  be  prepared,  not  for  war,  but  for  defense,  and  very  ade- 
quately prepared,  and  that  the  preparation  for  defense  is  not 
merely  a  technical  matter,  that  it  is  not  a  matter  that  the 
Army  and  Navy  alone  can  take  care  of,  but  a  matter  in 
which  we  must  have  the  cooperation  of  the  best  brains  and 
knowledge  of  the  country,  outside  the  official  service  of  the 
Government,  as  well  as  inside. 

For  my  part,  I  feel  that  it  is  only  in  the  spirit  of  a  true 
democracy  that  we  get  together  to  lend  such  voluntary  aid, 
the  sort  of  aid  that  comes  from  interest,  from  a  knowledge  of 
the  varied  circumstances  that  are  involved  in  handling  a 
nation.  *  *  * 

I  do  not  have  to  expKDund  it  to  you;  you  know  as  well  as 
I  do  the  spirit  of  America.  The  spirit  of  America  is  one  of 
peace,  but  one  of  independence.    It  is  a  spirit  that  is  pri>- 


94        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESmENT  WILSON    [1915 

foundly  concerned  with  peace,  because  it  can  express  itself 
best  only  in  peace.  It  is  the  spirit  of  peace  and  good-will 
and  of  human  freedom;  but  it  is  also  the  spirit  of  a  nation 
that  is  self-conscious,  that  knows  and  loves  its  mission  in  the 
world,  and  that  knows  that  it  must  command  the  respect  of 
the  world. 

So  it  seems  to  me  that  we  are  not  working  as  those  who 
would  change  anything  of  America,  but  only  as  those  who 
would  safeguard  everything  in  America.  *  *  * 

New  York  Times,  Oct.  7, 1915. 


YEAR   1916 

30.   WHAT  IS  PAN-AMERICANISM? 

(January  6,  19 16) 

Address  to  Pan-American  Scientific  Congress  at 
Washington 

It  was  a  matter  of  sincere  regret  with  me  that  I  was  not 
in  the  city  to  extend  the  greetings  of  the  Government  to  this 
distinguished  body,  and  I  am  very  happy  that  I  have  re- 
turned in  time  at  least  to  extend  to  it  my  felicitations  upon 
the  unusual  interest  and  success  of  its  proceedings.  I  wish 
that  it  might  have  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the 
sessions  and  be  instructed  by  the  papers  that  were  read.  I 
have  somewhat  become  inured  to  scientific  papers  in  the 
course  of  a  long  experience,  but  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  in- 
structed and  to  enjoy  them. 

The  sessions  of  this  Congress  have  been  looked  forward 
to  with  the  greatest  interest  throughout  this  country,  because 
there  is  no  more  certain  evidence  of  intellectual  life  than  the 
desire  of  men  of  all  nations  to  share  their  thoughts  with  one 
another. 

I  have  been  told  so  much  about  the  proceedings  of  this 
Congress  that  I  feel  that  I  can  congratulate  you  upon  the 
increasing  sense  of  comradeship  and  intimate  intercourse 
which  has  marked  its  sessions  from  day  to  day;  and  it  is  a 
very  happy  circumstance  in  our  view  that  this,  perhaps  the 
most  vital  and  successful  of  the  meetings  of  this  Congress, 
should  have  occurred  in  the  Capital  of  our  own  country,  be- 
cause we  should  wish  to  regard  this  as  the  universal  place 
where  ideas  worth  while  are  exchanged  and  shared.  The 
drawing  together  of  the  Americas,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  has 

95 


96        ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

long  been  dreamed  of  and  desired.  It  is  a  matter  of  peculiar 
gratification,  therefore,  to  see  this  great  thing  happen;  to 
see  the  Americas  drawing  together,  and  not  drawing  together 
upon  any  insubstantial  foundation  of  mere  sentiment. 

After  all,  even  friendship  must  be  based  upon  a  perception 
of  common  sympathies,  of  common  interests,  of  common 
ideals,  and  of  common  purposes.  Men  cannot  be  friends  im- 
less  they  intend  the  same  things,  and  the  Americas  have 
more  and  more  realized  that  in  all  essential  particulars  they 
intend  the  same  thing  with  regard  to  their  thought  and  their 
life  and  their  activities.  To  be  privileged,  therefore,  to  see 
this  drawing  together  in  friendship  and  communion,  based 
upon  these  solid  foundations,  affords  everyone  who  looks  on 
with  open  eyes  peculiar  satisfaction  and  joy;  and  it  has 
seemed  to  me  that  the  language  of  science,  the  language  of 
impersonal  thought,  the  language  of  those  who  think,  not 
along  the  lines  of  individual  interest  but  along  what  are  in- 
tended to  be  the  direct  and  searching  lines  of  truth  itself, 
was  a  very  fortunate  language  in  which  to  express  this  com- 
munity of  interest  and  of  sympathy.  Science  affords  an 
international  language  just  as  commerce  also  affords  a  uni- 
versal language,  because  in  each  instance  there  is  a  universal 
purpose,  a  universal  general  plan  of  action,  and  it  is  a  pleas- 
ing thought  to  those  who  have  had  something  to  do  with 
scholarship  that  scholars  have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
sowing  the  seeds  of  friendship  between  nation  and  nation. 
Truth  recognizes  no  national  boundaries.  Truth  permits  no 
racial  prejudices;  and  when  men  come  to  know  each  other 
and  to  recognize  equal  intellectual  strength  and  equal  intel- 
lectual sincerity  and  a  common  intellectual  purpose,  some  of 
the  best  foimdations  of  friendship  are  already  laid. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  our  thought  cannot  pause  at 
the  artificial  boundaries  of  the  fields  of  science  and  of  com- 
merce. All  boundaries  that  divide  life  into  sections  and  in- 
terests are  artificial,  because  life  is  all  of  a  piece.  You 
cannot  treat  part  of  it  without  by  implication  and  indirection 
treating  all  of  it,  and  the  field  of  science  is  not  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  field  of  life  any  more  than  the  field  of 
commerce  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  general  field  of 
life.     No  one  who  reflects  upon  the  progress  of  science  or 


Jan.  6]        WHAT  IS  PAN-AMERICANISM?  97 

the  spread  of  the  arts  of  peace  or  the  extension  and  perfec- 
tion of  any  of  the  practical  arts  of  life  can  fail  to  see  that 
there  is  only  one  atmosphere  that  these  things  can  breathe, 
and  that  is  an  atmosphere  of  mutual  confidence  and  of  peace 
and  of  ordered  political  life  among  the  nations.  Amidst 
war  and  revolution  even  the  voice  of  science  must  for  the 
most  part  be  silent,  and  revolution  tears  up  the  very  roots 
of  everything  that  makes  life  go  steadily  forward  and  the 
light  grow  from  generation  to  generation.  For  nothing  stirs 
passion  like  political  disturbance,  and  passion  is  the  enemy 
of  truth. 

These  things  were  realized  with  peculiar  vividness  and  said 
with  imusual  eloquence  in  a  recent  conference  held  in  this 
city  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  financial  relations 
between  the  two  continents  of  America,  because  it  was  per- 
ceived that  financiers  can  do  nothing  without  the  coopera- 
tion of  governments,  and  that  if  merchants  would  deal  with 
one  another,  laws  must  agree  with  one  another;  that  you 
cannot  make  laws  vary  without  making  them  contradict,  and 
that  amidst  contradictory  laws  the  easy  flow  of  commercial 
intercourse  is  impossible,  and  that,  therefore,  a  financial 
congress  naturally  led  to  all  the  inferences  of  politics.  For 
politics  I  conceive  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  science  of 
the  ordered  progress  of  society  along  the  lines  of  greatest 
usefulness  and  convenience  to  itself.  I  have  never  in  my 
own  mind  admitted  the  distinction  between  the  other  de- 
partments of  life  and  politics.  Some  people  devote  them- 
selves so  exclusively  to  politics  that  they  forget  there  is  any 
other  part  of  life,  and  so  soon  as  they  do  they  become  that 
thing  which  is  described  as  a  "mere  politician."  Statesman- 
ship begins  where  these  connections  so  unhappily  lost  are 
reestablished.  The  statesman  stands  in  the  midst  of  life 
to  interpret  life  in  political  action. 

The  conference  to  which  I  have  referred  marked  the 
consciousness  of  the  two  Americas  that  economically  they  are 
very  dependent  upon  one  another,  that  they  have  a  great 
deal  that  is  desirable  they  should  exchange  and  share  with 
one  another,  that  they  have  kept  unnaturally  and  unfortu- 
nately separated  and  apart  when  they  had  a  manifest  and 
obvious  community  of  interest;  and  the  object  of  that  con- 


98        ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

ference  was  to  ascertain  the  practical  means  by  which  the 
ccmmercial  and  practical  intercourse  of  the  continents 
could  be  quickened  and  facilitated.  And  where  events  move 
statesmen,  if  they  be  not  indifferent  or  be  not  asleep,  must 
think  and  act. 

For  my  own  part  I  congratulate  myself  upon  living  in  a 
time  when  these  things,  always  susceptible  of  intellectual 
demonstration,  have  begun  to  be  very  widely  and  universally 
appreciated,  and  when  the  statesmen  of  the  two  American 
continents  have  more  and  more  come  into  candid,  trustful, 
mutual  conference,  comparing  views  as  to  the  practical  and 
friendly  way  of  helping  one  another,  and  of  setting  forward 
every  handsome  enterprise  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

But  these  gentlemen  have  not  conferred  without  realizing 
that  back  of  all  the  material  community  of  interest  of  which 
I  have  spoken  there  lies  and  must  lie  a  community  of  political 
interest.  I  have  been  told  a  very  interesting  fact — I  hope  it 
is  true — that  while  this  Congress  has  been  discussing  science, 
it  has  been,  in  spite  of  itself,  led  into  the  feeling  that  behind 
the  science  there  was  some  inference  with  regard  to  politics, 
and  that  if  the  Americans  were  to  be  united  in  thou^t  they 
must  in  some  degree  sympathetically  be  united  in  action. 
What  these  statesmen,  who  have  been  conferring  from  month 
to  month  in  Washington,  have  come  to  realize,  that  back  of 
the  community  of  material  interest  there  is  a  community  of 
political  interest. 

I  hope  I  can  make  clear  to  you  in  what  sense  I  use  these 
words.  I  do  not  mean  a  mere  partnership  in  the  things  that 
are  expedient.  I  mean  what  I  was  trying  to  indicate  a  few 
moments  ago,  that  you  cannot  separate  politics  from  these 
things,  that  you  cannot  have  real  intercourse  of  any  kind 
amidst  p)olitical  jealousies,  which  is  only  another  way  of  say- 
ing that  you  cannot  commune  unless  you  are  friends,  and 
that  friendship  is  based  upon  your  political  relations  with 
^ach  other  perhaps  more  than  upon  any  other  kind  of  re- 
lationship between  nations.  If  nations  are  politically  sus- 
picious of  one  another,  all  their  intercourse  is  embarrassed. 
That  is  the  reason,  I  take  it,  if  it  be  true,  as  I  hope  it  is, 
that  your  thoughts  even  during  this  Congress,  though  the 
questions  you  are  called  upon  to  consider  are  apparently  so 


Jan.  6]         WHAT  IS  PAN-AMERICANISM?  99 

foreign  to  politics,  have  again  and  again  been  drawn  back 
to  the  political  inferences.  The  object  of  American  states- 
manship on  the  two  continents  is  to  see  to  it  that  American 
friendship  is  founded  on  a  rock. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  was  proclaimed  by  the  United  States 
on  her  own  authority.  It  always  has  been  maintained  and 
always  will  be  maintained  upon  her  own  responsibility.  But 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  demanded  merely  that  European  Gov- 
ernments should  not  attempt  to  extend  their  political  systems 
to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  It  did  not  disclose  the  use  which 
the  United  States  intended  to  make  of  her  power  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  a  hand  held  up  in  warning,  but  there 
was  no  promise  in  it  of  what  America  was  going  to  do  with 
the  implied  and  partial  protectorate  which  she  apparently 
was  trying  to  set  up  on  this  side  of  the  water;  and  I  believe 
you  will  sustain  me  in  the  statement  that  it  has  been  fears 
and  suspicions  on  this  score  which  have  hitherto  prevented 
the  greater  intimacy  and  confidence  and  trust  between  the 
Americas.  The  States  of  America  have  not  been  certain 
what  the  United  States  would  do  with  her  power.  That 
doubt  must  be  removed.  And  latterly  there  has  been  a  very 
frank  interchange  of  views  between  the  authorities  in  Wash- 
ington and  those  who  represented  the  other  States  of  this 
hemisphere,  an  interchange  of  views  charming  and  hopeful, 
because  based  upon  an  increasingly  sure  appreciation  of  the 
spirit  in  which  they  were  undertaken.  These  gentlemen  have 
seen  that  if  America  is  to  come  into  her  own,  into  her 
legitimate  own,  in  a  world  of  peace  and  order,  she  must 
establish  the  foundations  of  amity  so  that  no  one  will  here- 
after doubt  them. 

I  hope  and  I  believe  that  this  can  be  accomplished.  These 
conferences  have  enabled  me  to  foresee  how  it  will  be  ac- 
complished. It  will  be  accomplished  in  the  first  place,  by 
the  States  of  America  uniting  in  guaranteeing  to  each  other 
absolutely  political  independence  and  territorial  integrity. 
In  the  second  place,  and  as  a  necessary  corollary  to  that, 
guaranteeing  the  agreement  to  settle  all  pending  boundary 
disputes  as  soon  as  possible  and  by  amicable  process;  by 
agreeing  that  all  disputes  among  themselves,  should  they 
imhappily  arise,  will  be  handled  by  patient,  impartial  in- 


100      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

vestigation,  and  settled  by  arbitration;  and  the  agreement 
necessary  to  the  peace  of  the  Americas,  that  no  State  of 
either  continent  will  permit  revolutionary  expeditions  against 
another  State  to  be  fitted  out  on  its  territory,  and  that  they 
will  prohibit  the  exportation  of  the  munitions  of  war  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  revolutionists  against  neighboring 
Governments. 

You  see  what  our  thought  is,  gentlemen,  not  only  the 
international  peace  of  America  but  the  domestic  peace  of 
America.  If  American  States  are  constantly  in  ferment,  if 
any  of  them  are  constantly  in  ferment,  there  will  be  a  stand- 
ing threat  to  their  relations  with  one  another.  It  is  just  as 
much  to  our  interest  to  assist  each  other  to  the  orderly  proc- 
esses within  our  own  borders  as  it  is  to  orderly  processes  in 
our  controversies  with  one  another.  These  are  very  prac- 
tical suggestions  which  have  sprung  up  in  the  minds  of 
thoughtful  men,  and  I,  for  my  part,  believe  that  they  are 
going  to  lead  the  way  to  something  that  America  has  prayed 
for  for  many  a  generation.  For  they  are  based,  in  the  first 
place,  so  far  as  the  stronger  States  are  concerned,  upon  the 
handsome  principle  of  self-restraint  and  respect  for  the  rights 
of  everybody.  They  are  based  upon  the  principles  of  abso- 
lute political  equality  among  the  States,  equality  of  right, 
not  equality  of  indulgence.  They  are  based,  in  short,  upon 
the  solid  eternal  foundations  of  justice  and  humanity.  No 
man  can  turn  away  from  these  things  without  turning  away 
from  the  hope  of  the  world.  These  are  things,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  for  which  the  world  has  hoped  and  waited  with 
prayerful  heart.  God  grant  that  it  may  be  granted  to 
America  to  lift  this  light  on  high  for  the  illumination  of  the 
world.  New  York  Times,  Jan.  7,  19 16. 

31.    NEED  OF  AN  ARMY  AND  NAVY 

(January  27,  19 16) 

Address  at  New  York 

*  *  *  I  hear  a  great  many  things  predicted  about  the  end 
of  the  war,  but  I  do  not  know  what  is  going  to  happen  at 


Jan.  27]     NEED  OF  AN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  lor 

the  end  of  the  war;  and  neither  do  you.  There  are  two 
diametrically  opposed  views  as  to  immigration.  Some  men 
tell  us  that  at  least  a  million  men  are  going  to  leave  the 
country  and  others  tell  us  that  many  millions  are  going  to 
rush  into  it.  Neither  party  knows  what  they  are  talking 
about,  and  I  am  one  of  those  prudent  individuals  who  would 
really  like  to  know  the  facts  before  he  forms  an  opinion; 
not  out  of  wisdom  but  out  of  prudence.  I  have  lived  long 
enough  to  know  that  if  I  do  not,  the  facts  will  get  away  with 
me.  I  have  come  to  have  a  great  and  wholesome  respect 
for  the  facts.  I  have  had  to  yield  to  them  sometimes  before 
I  saw  them  coming  and  that  has  led  me  to  keep  a  weather  eye 
open  in  order  that  I  may  see  them  coming.  There  is  so  much 
to  understand  that  we  have  not  the  data  to  comprehend  that 
I  for  one  would  not  dare,  so  far  as  my  advice  is  concerned, 
to  leave  the  Government  without  the  adequate  means  of 
inquiry — but  that  is  another  parenthesis. 

What  I  am  trying  to  impress  upon  you  now  is  that  the 
circumstances  of  the  world  to-day  are  not  what  they  were 
yesterday,  or  ever  were  in  any  of  our  yesterdays.  And  it  is 
not  certain  what  they  will  be  to-morrow.  I  can  not  tell  you 
what  the  international  relations  of  this  country  will  be  to- 
morrow, and  I  use  the  word  literally;  and  I  would  not  dare 
keep  silent  and  let  the  country  suppose  that  to-morrow  was 
certain  to  be  as  bright  as  to-day.  America  will  never  be  the 
aggressor.  America  will  always  seek  to  the  last  point  at 
which  her  honor  is  involved  to  avoid  the  things  which  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  world;  but  America  does  not  control  the 
circumstances  of  the  world,  and  we  must  be  sure  that  we  are 
faithful  servants  of  those  things  which  we  love,  and  are  ready 
to  defend  them  against  every  contingency  that  may  affect  or 
impair  them. 

And,  as  I  was  saying  a  moment  ago,  we  must  seek  the 
means  which  are  consistent  with  the  principles  of  our  lives. 
It  goes  without  saying,  though  apparently  it  is  necessary 
to  say  it  to  some  excited  persons,  that  one  thing  that  this 
country  never  will  endure  is  a  system  that  can  be  called 
militarism.  But  militarism  consists  in  this,  gentlemen:  It 
consists  in  preparing  a  great  machine  whose  only  use  is  for 
war  and  giving  it  no  use  upon  which  to  expend  itself.    Men 


102      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

■who  are  in  charge  of  edged  tools  and  bidden  to  prepare  them 
for  exact  and  scientific  use  grow  very  impatient  if  they  are 
not  permitted  to  use  them,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
creation  of  such  an  instrument  is  an  insurance  of  peace.  I 
believe  that  it  involves  the  danger  of  all  the  impulses  that 
skilful  persons  have  to  use  the  things  that  they  know  how 
to  use. 

But  we  do  not  have  to  do  that.  America  is  always  going 
to  use  her  Army  in  two  ways.  She  is  going  to  use  it  for  the 
purposes  of  peace,  and  she  is  going  to  use  it  as  a  nucleus  for 
expansion  into  those  things  which  she  does  believe  in,  namely, 
the  preparation  of  her  citizens  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
There  are  two  sides  to  the  question  of  preparation;  there  is 
not  merely  the  military  side,  there  is  the  industrial  side;  and 
the  ideal  which  I  have  in  mind  is  this:  We  ought  to  have  in 
this  country  a  great  system  of  industrial  and  vocational  edu- 
cation under  Federal  guidance  and  with  Federal  aid,  in 
which  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  youth  of  this  country 
will  be  given  training  in  the  skilful  use  and  application  of 
the  principles  of  science  in  manufacture  and  business;  and 
it  will  be  perfectly  feasible  and  highly  desirable  to  add  to 
that  and  combine  with  it  such  a  training  in  the  mechanism 
and  care  and  use  of  arms,  in  the  sanitation  of  camps,  in  the 
simpler  forms  of  maneuver  and  organization,  as  will  make 
these  same  men  at  one  and  the  same  time  industrially  efficient 
and  immediately  serviceable  for  national  defense.  The 
point  about  such  a  system  will  be  that  its  emphasis  will  lie 
on  the  industrial  and  civil  side  of  life,  and  that,  like  all  the 
rest  of  America,  the  use  of  force  will  only  be  in  the  back- 
ground and  as  the  last  resort.  Men  will  think  first  of  their 
families  and  their  daily  work,  of  their  service  in  the  economic 
ranks  of  the  country,  of  their  efficiency  as  artisans,  and 
only  last  of  all  of  their  serviceability  to  the  Nation  as  sol- 
diers and  men  at  arms.    That  is  the  ideal  of  America. 

But,  gentlemen,  you  can  not  create  such  a  system  over- 
night ;  you  can  not  create  such  a  system  rapidly.  It  has  got 
to  be  built  up,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  built  up,  by  slow  and 
effective  stages;  and  there  is  much  to  be  done  in  the  mean- 
time. We  must  see  to  it  that  a  sufficient  body  of  citizens  is 
given  the  kind  of  training  which  will  make  them  efficient  now 


Jan.  2  7]     NEED  OF  AN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  103 

if  called  into  the  field  in  case  of  necessity.  It  is  discreditable 
to  this  country,  gentlemen,  for  this  is  a  country  full  of 
intelligent  men,  that  we  should  have  exhibited  to  the  world 
the  example  we  have  sometimes  exhibited  to  it,  of  stupid 
and  brutal  waste  of  force.  Think  of  asking  men  who  can 
be  easily  trained  to  come  into  the  field,  crude,  ignorant,  in- 
experienced, and  merely  furnishing  the  stuff  for  camp  fever 
and  the  bullets  of  the  enemy.  The  sanitary  experience  of 
our  Army  in  the  Spanish-American  War  was  merely  an  in- 
dictment of  America's  indifference  to  the  manifest  lessons 
of  experience  in  the  matter  of  ordinary,  careful  preparation. 
We  have  got  the  men  to  waste,  but  God  forbid  that  we  should 
waste  them.  Men  who  go  as  efficient  instruments  of  national 
honor  into  the  field  afford  a  very  handsome  spectacle  indeed. 
Men  who  go  in  crude  and  ignorant  boys  only  indict  those 
in  authority  for  stupidity  and  neglect.  So  it  seems  to  me 
that  it  is  our  manifest  duty  to  have  a  proper  citizen  reserve. 
I  am  not  forgetting  our  National  Guard.  I  have  had  the 
privilege  of  being  governor  of  one  of  our  great  States,  and 
there  I  w^as  brought  into  association  with  what  I  am  glad  to 
believe  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  portions  of  the  National 
Guard  of  the  Nation.  I  learned  to  admire  the  men,  to  respect 
the  officers,  and  to  believe  in  the  National  Guard;  and  I 
believe  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  do  very  much  more 
for  the  National  Guard  than  it  has  ever  done  heretofore.  I 
believe  that  that  great  arm  of  our  national  defense  should 
be  built  up  and  encouraged  to  the  utmost;  but,  you  know, 
gentlemen,  that  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
the  National  Guard  is  under  the  direction  of  more  than  two- 
score  States;  that  it  is  not  permitted  to  the  National  Govem- 
m.ent  directly  to  have  a  voice  in  its  development  and 
organization ;  and  that  only  upon  occasion  of  actual  invasion 
has  the  President  of  the  United  States  the  right  to  ask  those 
men  to  leave  their  respective  States.  I,  for  my  part,  am 
afraid,  though  some  gentlemen  differ  with  me,  that  there  is 
no  way  in  which  that  force  can  be  made  a  direct  resource  as 
a  national  reserve  under  national  authority. 

WTiat  we  need  is  a  body  of  men  trained  in  association  with 
units  of  the  Army,  a  body  of  men  organized  under  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  the  national  authority,  a  body  of  men 


104      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

subject  to  the  immediate  call  to  arms  of  the  national  author- 
ity, and  yet  men  not  put  into  the  ranks  of  the  Regular  Army; 
men  left  to  their  tasks  of  civil  life,  men  supplied  with  equip- 
ment and  training,  but  not  drawn  away  from  the  peaceful 
pursuits  which  have  made  America  great  and  must  keep  her 
great.  I  am  not  a  partisan  of  any  one  plan.  I  have  had  too 
much  experience  to  think  that  it  is  right  to  say  that  the  plan 
that  I  propose  is  the  only  plan  that  will  work,  because  I 
have  a  shrewd  suspicion  that  there  may  be  other  plans  that 
will  work.  What  I  am  after,  and  what  every  American  ought 
to  insist  upon,  is  a  body  of  at  least  half  a  million  trained 
citizens  who  will  serve  under  conditions  of  danger  as  an  im- 
mediately availatble  national  reserve. 

I  am  not  saying  anything  about  the  Navy  to-night,  be- 
cause for  some  reason  there  is  not  the  same  controversy 
about  the  Navy  that  there  is  about  the  Army.  The  Navy 
is  obvious  and  easily  understood;  the  Army  apparently  is 
very  difficult  to  comprehend  and  imderstand.  We  have  a 
traditional  prejudice  against  armies  which  makes  us  stop 
thinking  calmly  the  minute  we  begin  talking  about  them. 
We  suppose  that  all  armies  are  alike  and  that  there  can  not 
be  an  American  Army  system,  that  it  must  be  a  European 
system,  and  that  is  what  I  for  one  am  trying  to  divest  my 
own  mind  of.  The  Navy  is  so  obvious  an  instrument  of 
national  defense  that  I  believe  that,  with  differences  of  opin- 
ion about  the  detail,  it  is  not  going  to  be  difficult  to  carry 
out  a  proper  and  reasonable  program  for  the  increase  of  the 
Navy. 

But  that  is  another  story;  my  theme  to-night  is  national 
defense  on  land  where  we  seem  most  negligent  of  it.  And  I 
do  not  want  to  leave  in  your  minds  the  impression  that  I 
have  any  anxiety  as  to  the  outcome,  for  I  have  not  the 
slightest.  There  is  only  one  way  for  parties  and  individuals 
to  win  the  confidence  of  this  Nation  and  that  is  by  doing 
the  things  that  ought  to  be  done.  Nobody  is  going  to  be 
deceived.  Speeches  are  not  going  to  win  elections.  The 
facts  are  going  to  speak  for  themselves  and  speak  louder 
than  anybody  who  controverts  them.  No  political  party, 
no  group  of  men,  can  afford  to  disappoint  America.  This 
is  a  year  of  political  accounting,  and  the  Americans  in  poli- 


Jan.  27]     NEED  OF  AN  ARMY  AND  NAVY  105 

tics  are  rather  expert  accountants.  They  know  what  the 
books  contain  and  they  are  not  going  to  be  deceived  about 
them.  No  man  is  going  to  hide  behind  any  excuse;  the  goods 
must  be  delivered  or  the  confidence  will  not  be  enjoyed.  For 
my  part,  I  hope  that  every  man  in  public  life  will  get  what  is 
coming  to  him. 

If  this  is  true,  gentlemen,  it  is  because  of  things  that  lie 
much  deeper  than  laughter,  much  deeper  than  cheers;  lie 
down  at  the  very  roots  of  our  life.  America  refuses  to  be 
deceived  about  the  things  that  most  concern  her  national 
honor  and  national  safety,  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  every- 
thing that  you  love.  It  is  the  solemn  time  when  men  must 
examine  not  only  their  purposes  but  their  hearts.  Men  must 
purge  themselves  of  individual  ambition,  and  must  see  to  it 
that  they  are  ready  for  the  utmost  self-sacrifice  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  common  welfare.  Let  no  man  dare  play  the 
marplot.  Let  no  man  dare  bring  partisan  passion  into  these 
great  things.  Let  men  honestly  debate  the  facts  and  coura- 
geously act  upon  them.  Then  there  will  come  that  day  when 
the  world  will  say,  "This  America  that  we  thought  was  full 
of  a  multitude  of  contrary  counsels  now  speaks  with  the  great 
volume  of  the  heart's  accord,  and  that  great  heart  of  America 
has  behind  it  the  supreme  moral  force  of  righteousness  and 
hope  and  the  liberty  of  mankind." 

White  House  Pamphlet. 

2,2.     HOW  TO  AVOID  WAR 

(February  24,  19 16) 
Letter  to  Senator  Stone 

I  very  warmly  appreciate  your  kind  and  frank  letter  of 
to-day,  and  feel  that  it  calls  for  an  equally  frank  reply. 

You  are  right  in  assuming  that  I  shall  do  everything  in 
my  power  to  keep  the  United  States  out  of  war.  I  think 
the  country  will  feel  no  uneasiness  about  my  course  in  that 
respect.  Through  many  anxious  months  I  have  striven  for 
that  object,  amid  difficulties  more  manifold  than  can  have 
been  apparent  upon  the  surface,  and  so  far  I  have  succeeded. 
I  do  not  doubt  that  I  shall  continue  J;fl  succeed.    The  course 


io6      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

which  the  central  European  powers  have  announced  their 
intention  of  following  in  the  future  with  regard  to  undersea 
warfare  seems  for  the  moment  to  threaten  insuperable 
obstacles,  but  its  apparent  meaning  is  so  manifestly  incon- 
sistent with  explicit  assurances  recently  given  us  by  those 
powers  with  regard  to  their  treatment  of  merchant  vessels 
on  the  high  seas  that  I  must  believe  that  explanations  will 
presently  ensue  which  will  put  a  different  aspect  upon  it. 
We  have  had  no  reason  to  question  their  good  faith  or  their 
fidelity  to  their  promises  in  the  past,  and  I  for  one  feel  con- 
fident that  we  shall  have  none  in  the  future. 

But  in  any  event  our  duty  is  clear.  No  nation,  no  group 
of  nations,  has  the  right,  while  war  is  in  progress,  to  alter 
or  disregard  the  principles  which  all  nations  have  agreed  upon 
in  mitigation  of  the  horrors  and  sufferings  of  war;  and  if  the 
clear  rights  of  American  citizens  should  very  unhappily  be 
abridged  or  denied  by  any  such  action,  we  should,  it  seems 
to  me,  have  in  honor  no  choice  as  to  what  our  own  course 
should  be. 

For  my  own  part,  I  cannot  consent  to  any  abridgment 
of  the  rights  of  American  citizens  in  any  respect.  The  honor 
and  self-respect  of  the  Nation  is  involved.  We  covet  peace, 
and  shall  preserve  it  at  any  cost  but  the  loss  of  honor.  To 
forbid  our  people  to  exercise  their  rights  for  fear  we  might 
be  called  upon  to  vindicate  them  would  be  a  deep  humilia- 
tion indeed.  It  would  be  an  implicit,  all  but  an  explicit, 
acquiescence  in  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  mankind  every- 
where and  of  whatever  nation  or  allegiance.  It  would  be  a 
deliberate  abdication  of  our  hitherto  proud  position  as 
spokesmen,  even  amid  the  turmoil  of  war,  for  the  law  and 
the  right.  It  would  make  everything  this  Government  has 
attempted  and  everything  that  it  has  accomplished  during 
this  terrible  struggle  of  nations  meaningless  and  futile. 

It  is  important  to  reflect  that  if  in  this  instance  we  allowed 
expediency  to  take  the  place  of  principle  the  door  would 
inevitably  be  opened  to  still  further  concessions.  Once  ac- 
cept a  single  abatement  of  right,  and  many  other  humilia- 
tions would  certainly  follow,  and  the  whole  fine  fabric  of 
international  law  might  crumble  under  our  hands  piece  by 
piece.    What  we  are  contending  for  in  this  matter  is  of  the 


Feb.  24]  HOW  TO  AVOID  WAR  107 

very  essence  of  the  things  that  have  made  America  a  sovereign 
nation.  She  cannot  yield  them  without  conceding  her  own 
impotency  as  a  Nation  and  making  virtual  surrender  of  her 
independent  position  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

I  am  speaking,  my  dear  Senator,  in  deep  solemnity,  with- 
out heat,  with  a  clear  consciousness  of  the  high  responsi- 
bilities of  my  office  and  as  your  sincere  and  devoted  friend. 
If  we  should  unhappily  differ,  we  shall  differ  as  friends^ 
but  where  issues  so  momentous  as  these  are  involved  we 
must,  just  because  we  are  friends,  speak  our  minds  without 
reservation. 

Congressional  Record,  LIII,  3318. 

33.     BASIS  OF  AMERICAN  FOREIGN  POLICY 

(February  26,  1916) 
Address  to  the  Gridiron  Club  at  Washington 

*  *  *  It  is  not  a  new  feeling  on  my  part,  but  one  which 
I  entertain  with  a  greater  intensity  than  formerly  that  a 
man  who  seeks  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  for  any- 
thing that  it  will  bring  to  him  is  an  audacious  fool.  The 
responsibilities  of  the  office  ought  to  sober  a  man  even  before 
he  approaches  it.  One  of  the  difficulties  of  the  office  seldom 
appreciated,  I  dare  say,  is  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  think 
while  so  many  people  are  talking  in  a  way  that  obscures 
counsel  and  is  entirely  off  the  point. 

The  point  in  national  affairs,  gentlemen,  never  lies  along 
the  lines  of  expediency.  It  always  rests  in  the  field  of  prin- 
ciple. The  United  States  was  not  founded  upon  any  prin- 
ciple of  expediency;  it  was  founded  upon  a  profound  prin- 
ciple of  hurr>an  liberty  and  of  humanity,  and  whenever  it 
bases  its  policy  upon  any  other  foundations  than  those  it 
builds  on  the  sand  and  not  upon  the  solid  rock.  *  *  ^i^  jl^ 
seems  to  me  that  if  you  do  not  think  of  the  things  that  lie 
beyond  and  away  from  and  disconnected  from  this  scere  in 
which  we  attempt  to  think  and  conclude,  you  will  mevitably 
be  led  astray.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  know  what  ihey 
are  talking  about  around  quiet  firesides  all  over  the  country 
than  what  they  are  talking  about  in  the  cloakrooms  oi  Con- 


io8      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

gress.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  know  what  the  men  on 
the  trains  and  by  the  wayside  and  in  the  shops  and  on  the 
farms  are  thinking  about  and  yearning  for  than  hear  any 
of  the  vociferous  proclamations  of  policy  which  it  is  so  easy 
to  hear  and  so  easy  to  read  by  picking  up  any  scrap  of 
printed  paper.  There  is  only  one  way  to  hear  these  things, 
and  that  is  constantly  to  go  back  to  the  fountains  of  American 
action.  Those  fountains  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  recently 
discovered  sources.  *  *  * 

America  ought  to  keep  out  of  this  war.  She  ought  to 
keep  out  of  this  war  at  the  sacrifice  of  everything  except 
this  single  thing  upon  which  her  character  and  history  are 
founded,  her  sense  of  humanity  and  justice.  If  she  sacri- 
fices that,  she  has  ceased  to  be  America;  she  has  ceased 
to  entertain  and  to  love  the  traditions  which  have  made  us 
proud  to  be  Americans;  and  when  we  go  about  seeking 
safety  at  the  expense  of  humanity,  then  I,  for  one,  will  be- 
lieve that  I  have  always  been  mistaken  in  what  I  have  con- 
ceived to  be  the  spirit  of  American  history. 

You  never  can  tell  your  direction  except  by  long  measure- 
ments. You  can  not  establish  a  line  by  two  posts;  you  have 
got  to  have  three  at  least  to  know  whether  they  are  straight 
with  anything,  and  the  longer  your  line  the  more  certain 
your  measurement.  There  is  only  one  way  in  which  to 
determine  how  the  future  of  the  United  States  is  going  to 
be  projected,  and  that  is  by  looking  back  and  seeing  which 
way  the  lines  ran  which  led  up  to  the  present  moment  of 
power  and  of  opportunity.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that. 
There  is  no  question  what  the  roll  of  honor  in  America  is. 
The  roll  of  honor  consists  of  the  names  of  men  who  have 
squared  their  conduct  by  ideals  of  duty.  There  is  no  one 
else  upon  the  roster;  there  is  no  one  else  whose  name  we 
care  to  remember  when  we  measure  things  upon  a  national 
scale.  And  I  wish  that  whenever  an  impulse  of  impatience 
comes  upon  us,  whenever  an  impulse  to  settle  a  thing  some 
short  way  tempts  us,  we  might  close  the  door  and  take  down 
some  old  stories  of  what  American  idealists  and  statesmen 
did  in  the  past,  and  not  let  any  counsel  in  that  does  not 
sound  in  the  authentic  voice  of  American  tradition.  Then 
we  shall  be  certain  what  the  lines  of  the  future  are,  because 


Feb.  26]  BASIS  OF  AMERICAN  FOREIGN  POLICY  109 

we  shall  know  we  are  steering  by  the  lines  of  the  past.  We 
shall  know  that  no  temporary  convenience,  no  temporary 
expediency  will  lead  us  either  to  be  rash  or  to  be  cowardly. 
I  would  be  just  as  much  ashamed  to  be  rash  as  I  would  to 
be  a  coward.  Valor  is  self-respecting.  Valor  is  circumspect. 
Valor  strikes  only  when  it  is  the  right  to  strike.  Valor  with- 
holds itself  from  all  small  implications  and  entanglements 
and  waits  for  the  great  opportimity  when  the  sword  will 
flash  as  if  it  carried  the  light  of  heaven  upon  its  blade. 

Congressional  Record,  LIII,  3308. 

34.     RIGHT  OF  AMERICANS  TO  TRAVERSE 
THE  SEAS 

(February  29,  1916) 

Letter  to  Representative  Pou  on  the  McLemore 
Resolution 

Inasmuch  as  I  learn  that  Mr.  Henry,  the  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Rules,  is  absent -in  Texas,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  calling  your  attention,  as  ranking  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, to  a  matter  of  grave  concern  to  the  country  which 
can,  I  believe,  be  handled,  under  the  rules  of  the  House,  only 
I  by  that  committee. 

The  report  that  there  are  divided  counsels  in  Congress 
in  regard  to  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Government  is  being 
I  made  industrious  use  of  in  foreign  capitals.  I  believe  that 
report  to  be  false,  but  so  long  as  it  is  anywhere  credited  it 
can  not  fail  to  do  the  greatest  harm  and  expose  the  country 
to  the  most  serious  risks.  I  therefore  feel  justified  in  asking 
that  your  committee  will  permit  me  to  urge  an  early  vote 
upon  the  resolutions  with  regard  to  travel  on  armed  mer- 
chantmen which  have  recently  been  so  much  talked  about,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  afforded  an  immediate  opportunity 
for  full  public  discussion  and  action  upon  them  and  that  all 
doubts  and  conjectures  may  be  swept  away  and  our  foreign 
relations  once  more  cleared  of  damaging  misunderstandings. 

The  matter  is  of  so  grave  importance  and  lies  so  clearly 
within  the  field  of  Executive  initiative  that  I  venture  to  hope 
that  your  committee  will  not  think  that  I  am  taking  an  un- 


tio      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 

warranted  liberty  in  making  this  suggestion  as  to  the  business 
[>f  the  House;  and  I  very  earnestly  commend  it  to  their 
^mediate  consideration. 

Congressional  Record,  LIII,  App.  681. 

35.    EXPEDITION  INTO  MEXICO 

(March  25,  19 16) 
Statement  to  the  Press 

As  has  already  been  announced,  the  expedition  into 
Mexico  was  ordered  imder  an  agreement  with  the  de  facto 
tjovemment  of  Mexico  for  the  single  purpose  of  taking  the 
bandit  Villa,  whose  forces  had  actually  invaded  the  territorv 
of  the  United  States,  and  is  in  no  sense  intended  as  a^^ 
invasion  of  that  republic  or  as  an  infringement  of  its 
.-sovereignty. 

I  have,  therefore,  asked  the  several  news  services  to  be 
good  enough  to  assist  the  Administration  in  keeping  this 
view  of  the  expedition  constantly  before  both  the  people  of 
this  country  and  the  distressed  and  sensitive  people  of 
Mexico,  who  are  very  susceptible,  indeed,  to  impressions 
received  from  the  American  press  not  only,  but  also  very 
ready  to  believe  that  those  impressions  proceed  from  the 
views  and  objects  of  our  Government  itself.  Such  con- 
clusions, it  must  be  said,  are  not  unnatural,  because  the 
main,  if  not  the  only,  source  of  information  for  the  people 
on  both  sides  of  the  border  is  the  public  press  of  the  United 
States. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  creation  of  erroneous  and  danger- 
ous impressions  in  this  way  I  have  called  upon  the  several 
news  agencies  to  use  the  utmost  care  not  to  give  news  stories 
regarding  this  expedition  the  color  of  war,  to  withhold 
stories  of  troop  movements  and  military  preparations  which 
might  be  given  that  interpretation,  and  to  refrain  from 
publishing  unverified  rumors  of  unrest  in  Mexico. 

I  feel  that  it  is  most  desirable  to  impress  upon  both  our 
own  people  and  the  p>eople  of  Mexico  the  fact  that  the 
expedition  is  simply  a  necessary  punitive  measure,  aimed 
solely  at  the  elimination  of  the  maurauders  v/ho  raided 


Mar.  2  5]        EXPEDITION  INTO  MEXICO  iii 

Columbus  and  who  infest  an  unprotected  district  near  the 
border,  which  they  use  as  a  base  in  making  attacks  upon  the 
lives  and  property  of  our  citizens  within  our  own  territory. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  our  commanders  to  cooperate  in  every 
possible  way  with  the  forces  of  General  Carranza  in  re- 
moving this  cause  of  irritation  to  both  Governments,  and 
retire  from  Mexican  territory  so  soon  as  that  object  is  ac- 
complished. 

It  is  my  duty  to  warn  the  people  of  the  United  States 
that  there  are  persons  all  along  the  border  who  are  actively 
engaged  in  originating  and  giving  as  wide  currency  as  they 
can  to  rumors  of  the  most  sensational  and  disturbing  sort, 
which  are  wholly  unjustified  by  the  facts.  The  object  of 
this  traffic  in  falsehood  is  obvious.  It  is  to  create  intolerable 
friction  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
the  de  facto  Government  of  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  about  intervention  in  the  interest  of  certain  Ameri- 
can owners  of  Mexican  properties.  This  object  can  not  be 
attained  so  long  as  sane  and  honorable  men  are  in  control 
of  this  Government,  but  very  serious  conditions  may  be 
created,  imnecessary  bloodshed  may  result,  and  the  relations 
between  the  two  republics  may  be  very  much  embarrassed. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  should  know  the  sinister 
and  imscrupulous  influences  that  are  afoot,  and  should  be 
on  their  guard  against  crediting  any  story  coming  from  the 
border;  and  those  who  disseminate  the  news  should  make  it 
a  matter  of  patriotism  and  of  conscience  to  test  the  source 
and  authenticity  of  every  report  they  receive  from  that 
quarter.  New  York  Times,  March  26,  19 16. 

36.     ULTIMATUM  ON  SUBMARINE  WARFARE 

(April  19,  19 1 6) 

Address  to  Congress 

A  situation  has  arisen  in  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country 
of  which  it  is  my  plain  duty  to  inform  you  very  franl^lv. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  in  February,  19 15,  the  Imperial 
German  Government  announced  its  intention  to  treat  the 
waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  embraced 
within  the  seat  of  war  and  to  destroy  all  merchant  ships 


112      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

owned  by  its  enemies  that  might  be  found  within  any  part 
of  that  portion  of  the  high  seas,  and  that  it  warned  all 
vessels,  of  neutral  as  well  as  of  belligerent  ownership,  to 
keep  out  of  the  waters  it  had  thus  proscribed  or  else  enter 
them  at  their  peril.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
earnestly  protested.  It  took  the  position  that  such  a  policy 
could  not  be  pursued  without  the  practical  certainty  of  gross 
and  palpable  violations  of  the  law  of  nations,  particularly  if 
submarine  craft  were  to  be  employed  as  its  instruments, 
inasmuch  as  the  rules  prescribed  by  that  law,  rules  foimded 
upon  principles  of  humanity  and  established  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  lives  of  non-combatants  at  sea,  could  not  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  be  observed  by  such  vessels.  It  based 
its  protest  on  the  groimd  that  persons  of  neutral  nationality 
and  vessels  of  neutral  ownership  would  be  exposed  to  extreme 
and  intolerable  risks,  and  that  no  right  to  close  any  part  of 
the  high  seas  against  their  use  or  to  expose  them  to  such 
risks  could  lawfully  be  asserted  by  any  belligerent  govern- 
ment. The  law  of  nations  in  these  matters,  upon  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  based  its  protest,  is  not 
of  recent  origin  or  founded  upon  merely  arbitrary  principles 
set  up  by  convention.  It  is  based,  on  the  contrary,  upon 
manifest  and  imperative  principles  of  humanity  and  has  long 
been  established  with  the  approval  and  by  the  express  assent 
of  all  civilized  nations. 

Notwithstanding  the  earnest  protest  of  our  Government, 
>Jie  Imperial  German  Government  at  once  proceeded  to  carry 
out  the  policy  it  had  annoimced.  It  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  dangers  involved,  at  any  rate  the  dangers  to  neutral 
vessels,  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  the  instructions 
which  it  had  issued  to  its  submarine  commanders,  and  assured 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  it  would  take 
every  possible  precaution  both  to  respect  the  rights  of  neutrals 
and  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  non-combatants. 

What  has  actually  happened  in  the  year  which  has  since 
elapsed  has  shown  that  those  hopes  were  not  justified,  those 
assurances  insusceptible  of  being  fulfilled.  In  pursuance  of 
the  policy  of  submarine  warfare  against  the  commerce  of  its 
adversaries,  thus  annoimced  and  entered  upon  by  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  m  despite  of  the  solemn  protest 


Apr.  19]       ULTIMATUM  ON  SUBMARINE  113 

of  this  Government,  the  commanders  of  German  undersea 
vessels  have  attacked  merchant  ships  with  greater  and  greater 
activity,  not  only  upon  the  high  seas  surrounding  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  but  wherever  they  could  encounter  them, 
in  a  way  that  has  grown  more  and  more  ruthless,  more  and 
more  indiscriminate  as  the  months  have  gone  by,  less  and 
less  observant  of  restraints  of  any  kind  and  have  delivered 
their  attacks  without  compunction  against  vessels  of  every 
nationality  and  bound  upon  every  sort  of  errand.  Vessels 
of  neutral  ownership,  even  vessels  of  neutral  ownership  bound 
from  neutral  port  to  neutral  port,  have  been  destroyed  along 
with  vessels  of  belligerent  ownership  in  constantly  increasing 
numbers.  Sometimes  the  merchantmen  attacked  has  been 
warned  and  summoned  to  surrender  before  being  fired  on  or 
torpedoed;  sometimes  passengers  or  crews  have  been  vouch- 
safed the  poor  security  of  being  allowed  to  take  to  the  ship's 
boats  before  she  was  sent  to  the  bottom.  But  again  and 
again  no  warning  has  been  given,  no  escape  even  to  the  ship's 
boats  allowed  to  those  on  board.  What  this  Government 
foresaw  must  happen  has  happened.  Tragedy  has  followed 
tragedy  on  the  seas  in  such  fashion,  with  such  attendant 
circumstances,  as  to  make  it  grossly  evident  that  warfare 
of  such  a  sort,  if  warfare  it  be,  cannot  be  carried  on  without 
the  most  palpable  violation  of  the  dictates  alike  of  right  and 
of  humanity.  Whatever  the  disposition  and  intention  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government,  it  has  manifestly  proved  im- 
possible for  it  to  keep  such  methods  of  attack  upon  the 
commerce  of  its  enemies  within  the  bounds  set  by  either 
reason  or  the  heart  of  mankind. 

In  February  of  the  present  year  the  Imperial  German 
Government  informed  this  Government  and  the  other  neutral 
governments  of  the  world  that  it  had  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain  had  armed  all  merchant 
vessels  of  British  ownership  and  had  given  them  secret  orders 
to  attack  any  submarine  of  the  enemy  they  might  encounter 
upon  the  seas,  and  that  the  Imperial  German  Government 
felt  justified  in  the  circumstances  in  treating  all  armed  mer- 
chantmen of  belligerent  ownership  as  auxiliary  vessels  of 
war,  which  it  would  have  the  right  to  destroy  without  warn- 
ing.   The  law  of  nations  has  long  recognized  the  right  of 


114      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

merchantmen  to  carry  arms  for  protection  and  to  use  them 
to  repel  attack,  though  to  use  them,  in  such  circumstances, 
at  their  own  risk;  but  the  Imperial  German  Government 
claimed  the  right  to  set  these  imderstandings  aside  in  circum- 
stances which  it  deemed  extraordinary.  Even  the  terms  in 
which  it  announced  its  purpose  thus  still  further  to  relax 
the  restraints  it  had  previously  professed  its  willingness  and 
desire  to  put  upon  the  operations  of  its  submarines  carried 
the  plain  implication  that  at  least  vessels  which  were  not 
armed  would  still  be  exempt  from  destruction  without  warn- 
ing and  that  personal  safety  would  be  accorded  their  pas- 
sengers and  crews;  but  even  that  limitation,  if  it  was  ever 
practicable  to  observe  it,  has  in  fact  constituted  no  check  at 
all  upon  the  destruction  of  ships  of  every  sort. 

Again  and  again  the  Imperial  German  Government  has 
given  this  Government  its  solemn  assurances  that  at  least 
passenger  ships  would  not  be  thus  dealt  with,  and  yet  it  has 
again  and  again  permitted  its  undersea  commanders  to  dis- 
regard those  assurances  with  entire  impunity.  Great  liners 
like  the  Lusitania  and  the  Arabic  and  mere  ferryboats  like 
the  Sussex  have  been  attacked  without  a  moment's  warning, 
sometimes  before  they  had  even  become  aware  that  they  were 
in  the  presence  of  an  armed  vessel  of  the  enemy,  and  the  lives 
of  non-combatnats,  passengers  and  crew,  have  been  sacrificed 
wholesale,  in  a  manner  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  can  not  but  regard  as  wanton  and  without  the  slight- 
est color  of  justification.  No  limit  of  any  kind  has  in  fact 
been  set  to  the  indiscriminate  pursuit  and  destruction  of 
merchantmen  of  all  kinds  and  nationalities  within  the 
waters,  constantly  extending  in  area,  where  these  operations 
have  been  carried  on;  and  the  roll  of  Americans  who  have 
lost  their  lives  on  ships  thus  attacked  and  destroyed  has 
grown  month  by  month  until  the  ominous  toll  has  mounted 
into  the  hundreds. 

One  of  the  latest  and  most  shocking  instances  of  this 
method  of  warfare  was  that  of  the  destruction  of  the  French 
cross-Channel  steamer  Sussex.  It  must  stand  forth,  as  the 
sinking  of  the  steamer  Lusitania  did,  as  so  singularly  tragical 
and  unjustifiable  as  to  constitute  a  truly  terrible  example  of 
the  inhumanity  of  submarine  warfare  as  the  commanders  of 


Apr.  19]       ULTIMATUM  ON  SUBMARINE  115 

German  vessels  have  for  the  past  twelvemonth  been  conduct- 
ing it.  If  this  instance  stood  alone,  some  explanation,  some 
disavowal  by  the  German  Government,  some  evidence  of 
criminal  mistake  or  wilful  disobedience  on  the  part  of  the 
commander  of  the  vessel  that  fired  the  torpedo  might  be 
sought  or  entertained ;  but  unhappily  it  does  not  stand  alone. 
Recent  events  make  the  conclusion  inevitable  that  it  is  only 
one  instance,  even  though  it  be  one  of  the  most  extreme  and 
distressing  instances,  of  the  spirit  and  method  of  warfare 
which  the  Imperial  German  Government  has  mistakenly 
adopted,  and  which  from  the  first  exposed  that  Government 
to  the  reproach  of  thrusting  all  neutral  rights  aside  in  pursuit 
of  its  immediate  objects. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  very  pax 
tient.  At  every  stage  of  this  distressing  experience  of  tragedy 
after  tragedy  in  which  its  own  citizens  were  involved  it  has 
sought  to  be  restrained  from  any  extreme  course  of  action 
or  of  protest  by  a  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  extraordi- 
nary circumstances  of  this  unprecedented  war,  and  actuated 
in  all  that  it  said  or  did  by  the  sentiments  of  genuine  friend- 
ship which  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  always 
entertained  and  continue  to  entertain  towards  the  German 
nation.  It  has  of  course  accepted  the  successive  explana- 
tions  and  assurances  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  as 
given  in  entire  sincerity  and  good  faith,  and  has  hoped,  even 
against  hope,  that  it  would  prove  to  be  possible  for  the  Ger- 
man Government  so  to  order  and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval 
commanders  as  to  square  its  policy  with  the  principles  of  hu- 
manity as  embodied  in  the  law  of  nations.  It  has  been  willing 
to  wait  until  the  significance  of  the  facts  became  absolutely 
unmistakable  and  susceptible  of  but  one  interpretation. 

That  point  has  now  unhappily  been  reached.  The  facts 
*are  susceptible  of  but  one  interpretation.  The  Imperial 
German  Government  has  been  unable  to  put  any  limits  or 
restraints  upon  its  warfare  against  either  freight  or  passenger 
ships.  It  has  therefore  become  painfully  evident  that  the 
position  which  this  Government  took  at  the  very  outset  is 
inevitable,  namely,  that  the  use  of  submarines  for  the  de- 
struction of  an  enemy's  commerce  is  of  necessity,  because  of 
the  very  character  of  the  vessels  employed  and  the  very 


ii6      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

methods  of  attack  which  their  employment  of  course  in- 
volves, incompatible  with  the  principles  of  humanity,  the 
long  established  and  incontrovertible  rights  of  neutrals,  and 
the  sacred  immunities  of  non-combatants. 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  say  to  the  Imperial 
German  Government  that  if  it  is  still  its  purpose  to  prose- 
cute relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against  vessels  of 
commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines,  notwithstanding  the  now 
demonstrated  impossibility  of  conducting  that  warfare  in 
accordance  with  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
must  consider  the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  and  the  universally  recognized  dictates  of  human- 
ity, the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  course  it  can  pursue; 
and  that  unless  the  Imperial  German  Government  should 
now  immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its 
present  methods  of  warfare  against  passenger  and  freight 
carrying  vessels  this  Government  can  have  no  choice  but  to 
sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the  Government  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  altogether. 

This  decision  I  have  arrived  at  with  the  keenest  regret; 
the  possibility  of  the  action  contemplated  I  am  sure  all 
thoughtful  Americans  will  look  forward  to  with  unaffected 
reluctance.  But  we  cannot  forget  that  we  are  in  some  sort 
and  by  the  force  of  circumstances  the  responsible  spokesmen 
of  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  that  we  cannot  remain  silent 
while  those  rights  seem  in  process  of  being  swept  utterly 
away  in  the  maelstrom  of  this  terrible  war.  We  owe  it  to  a 
due  regard  for  our  own  rights  as  a  nation,  to  our  sense  of 
duty  as  a  representative  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  the  world 
over,  and  to  a  just  conception  of  the  rights  of  mankind  to 
take  this  stand  now  with  the  utmost  solemnity  and  firmness. 

I  have  taken  it,  and  taken  it  in  the  confidence  that  it  will 
meet  with  your  approval  and  support.  All  sober-minded 
men  must  unite  in  hoping  that  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment, which  has  in  other  circumstances  stood  as  the  champion 
of  all  that  we  are  now  contending  for  in  the  interest  of 
humanity,  may  recognize  the  justice  of  our  demands  and 
meet  them  in  lie  spirit  in  which  they  are  made. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


Mays]     QUALIFICATIONS  OF  A  JUSTICE  117 

37.     QUALIFICATIONS  OF  A  SUPREME  COURT 
JUSTICE 

(May  5,  1916) 

Letter  to  Senator  Culberson  on  Mr.  Brandeis 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  giving  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  clear  to  the  Judiciary  Committee  my  reasons 
for  nominating. Mr.  Louis  D.  Brandeis  to  fill  the  vacancy  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  created  by  the  death 
of  Mr.  Justice  Lamar,  for  I  am  profoundly  interested  in  the 
confirmation  of  the  appointment  by  the  Senate. 

There  is  probably  no  more  important  duty  imposed  upon 
the  President  in  connection  with  the  general  administration 
of  the  Government  than  that  of  naming  members  of  the 
Supreme  Court;  and  I  need  hardly  tell  you  that  I  named 
Mr.  Brandeis  as  a  member  of  that  great  tribunal  only  be- 
cause I  knew  him  to  be  singularly  qualified  by  learning,  by 
gifts,  and  by  character  for  the  position. 

Many  charges  have  been  made  against  Mr.  Brandeis;  the 
report  of  your  subcommittee  has  already  made  it  plain  to 
you  and  to  the  country  at  large  how  unfounded  those  charges 
were.  They  threw  a  great  deal  more  light  upon  the  character 
and  motives  of  those  with  whom  they  originated  than  upon 
the  qualifications  of  Mr.  Brandeis.  I  myself  looked  into 
them  three  years  ago  when  I  desired  to  make  Mr.  Brandeis 
a  member  of  my  Cabinet  and  found  that  they  proceeded 
for  the  most  part  from  those  who  hated  Mr.  Brandeis 
because  he  had  refused  to  be  serviceable  to  them  in  the 
promotion  of  their  own  selfish  interests,  and  from  those  whom 
they  had  prejudiced  and  misled.  The  propaganda  in  this 
matter  has  been  very  extraordinary  and  very  distressing  to 
those  who  love  fairness  and  value  the  dignity  of  the  great 
professions. 

I  perceived  from  the  first  that  the  charges  were  intrin« 
sically  incredible  by  anyone  who  had  really  known  Mr. 
Brandeis.  I  have  known  him.  I  have  tested  him  by  seeking 
his  advice  upon  some  of  the  most  difficult  and  perplexing 
public  questions  about  which  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  form 


ii8      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

a  judgment.  I  have  dealt  with  him  in  matters  where  nice 
questions  of  honor  and  fair  play,  as  well  as  large  questions 
of  justice  and  the  public  benefit,  were  involved.  In  every 
matter  in  which  I  have  made  test  of  his  judgment  and 
point  of  view  I  have  received  from  him  counsel  singularly 
enlightening,  singularly  clear-sighted  and  judicial,  and,  above 
all,  full  of  moral  stimulation.  He  is  a  friend  of  all  just  men 
and  a  lover  of  right;  and  he  knows  more  than  how  to  talk 
about  the  right — he  knows  how  to  set  it  forward  in  the  face 
of  its  enemies.  I  knew  from  direct  personal  knowledge  of 
the  man  what  I  was  doing  when  I  named  him  for  the  highest 
and  most  responsible  tribunal  of  the  Nation. 

Of  his  extraordinary  ability  as  a  lawyer  no  man  who  is 
competent  to  judge  can  speak  with  anything  but  the  highest 
admiration.  You  will  remember  that  in  the  opinion  of  the 
late  Chief  Justice  Fuller  he  was  the  ablest  man  who  ever 
appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
''He  is  also,"  the  Chief  Justice  added,  "absolutely  fearless 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties." 

Those  who  have  resorted  to  him  for  assistance  in  settling 
great  industrial  disputes  can  testify  to  his  fairness  and  love 
of  justice.  In  the  troublesome  controversies  between  the 
garment  workers  and  manufacturers  of  New  York  City,  for 
example,  he  gave  a  truly  remarkable  proof  of  his  judicial 
temperament  and  had  what  must  have  been  the  great  satis- 
faction of  rendering  decisions  which  both  sides  were  willmg 
to  accept  as  disinterested  and  even-handed. 

Mr.  Brandeis  has  rendered  many  notable  services  to  the 
city  and  state  with  which  his  professional  life  has  been 
identified.  He  successfully  directed  the  difficult  campaign 
which  resulted  in  obtaining  cheaper  gas  for  the  city  of  Boston. 
It  was  chiefly  under  his  guidance  and  through  his  efforts 
that  legislation  was  secured  in  Massachusetts  which  author- 
ized savings  banks  to  issue  insurance  policies  for  small  sums 
at  much  reduced  rates.  And  some  gentlemen  who  tried  very 
hard  to  obtain  control  by  the  Boston  Elevated  Railroad 
Company  of  the  subways  of  the  city  for  a  period  of  ninety- 
nine  years  can  probably  testify  as  to  his  ability  as  the  peo- 
ple's advocate  when  public  interests  call  for  an  effective 


Mays]     QUALIFICATIONS    OF   A   JUSTICE  119 

champion.  He  rendered  these  services  without  compensation, 
and  earned,  whether  he  got  it  or  not,  the  gratitude  of  every 
citizen  of  the  state  and  city  he  served.  These  are  but  a  few 
of  the  services  of  this  kind  he  has  freely  rendered.  It  will 
hearten  friends  of  community  and  public  rights  throughout 
the  country  to  see  his  quality  signally  recognized  by  his 
elevation  to  the  Supreme  Bench;  for  the  whole  country  is 
aware  of  his  quality  and  is  interested  in  this  appointment. 

I  did  not  in  making  choice  of  Mr.  Brandeis  ask  for  or 
depend  upon  "endorsements."  I  acted  upon  public  knowl- 
edge and  personal  acquaintance  with  the  man,  and  preferred 
to  name  a  lawyer  for  this  great  office  w^hose  abilities  and 
character  were  so  widely  recognized  that  he  needed  no  en- 
dorsement. I  did,  however,  personally  consult  many  men  in 
whose  judgment  I  had  great  confidence,  and  am  happy  to 
say  was  supported  in  my  selection  by  the  voluntary  recom- 
mendation of  the  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States,  who 
urged  Mr.  Brandeis  upon  my  consideration  independently 
of  any  suggestion  from  me. 

Let  me  say  by  way  of  summing  up,  my  dear  Senator,  that 
I  nominated  Mr.  Brandeis  for  the  Supreme  Court  because  it 
was,  and  is,  my  deliberate  judgment  that,  of  all  the  men 
now  at  the  bar  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  observe, 
test,  and  know,  he  is  exceptionally  qualified.  I  cannot  speak 
too  highly  of  his  impartial,  impersonal,  orderly,  and  con- 
structive mind,  his  rare  analytical  powers,  his  deep  human 
sympathy,  his  profound  acquaintance  with  the  historical  roots 
of  our  institutions  and  insight  into  their  spirit,  or  of  the 
many  evidences  he  has  given  of  being  imbued  to  the  very 
heart  with  our  American  ideals  of  justice  and  equality  of 
opportunity;  of  his  knowledge  of  modern  economic  condi- 
tions and  of  the  v/ay  they  bear  upon  the  masses  of  the  people, 
or  of  his  genius  in  getting  persons  to  unite  in  common  and 
harmonious  action  and  look  with  frank  and  kindly  eyes  into 
each  other's  minds,  who  had  before  been  heated  antagonists. 
This  friend  of  justice  and  of  men  will  ornament  the  high 
court  of  which  we  are  all  so  justly  proud.  I  am  glad  to  have 
had  the  opportunity  to  pay  him  this  tribute  of  admjration 
and  of  confidence;  and  I  beg  that  your  committee  will  accept 


120      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

this  nomination  as  coming  from  me  quick  with  a  sense  of 
public  obligation  and  responsibility. 

Congressional  Record,  LIII,  7628. 


38.     GERMAN  ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  SUB- 
MARINE POLICY 

(May  8,  1916) 

Despatch  to  the  German  Government  through 
Secretary  Lansing 

The  note  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  under  date 
of  May  4,  19 1 6,  has  received  careful  consideration  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  It  is  especially  noted,  as 
indicating  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government  as  to  the 
future,  that  it  "is  prepared  to  do  its  utmost  to  confine  the 
operations  of  the  war  for  the  rest  of  its  duration  to  the 
fighting  forces  of  the  belligerents,"  and  that  it  is  determined 
to  impose  upon  all  its  commanders  at  sea  the  limitations  of 
the  recognized  rules  of  international  law  upon  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  has  insisted.  Throughout 
the  months  which  have  elapsed  since  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment annoimced,  on  February  4,  191 5,  its  submarine  policy, 
now  happily  abandoned,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  has  been  constantly  guided  and  restrained  by  motives 
of  friendship  in  its  patient  efforts  to  bring  to  an  amicable 
settlement  the  critical  questions  arising  from  that  policy. 
Accepting  the  Imperial  Government's  declaration  of  its  aban- 
donment of  the  policy  which  has  so  seriously  menaced  the 
good  relations  between  the  two  countries,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  will  rely  upon  a  scrupulous  execution 
henceforth  of  the  now  altered  policy  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, such  as  will  remove  the  principal  danger  to  an  inter- 
ruption of  the  good  relations  existing  between  the  United 
States  and  Germany. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  it  necessary 
to  state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the  main- 


May  8]  SUBMARINE  POLICY  i^i 

tenance  of  its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way  con- 
tingent upon  the  course  or  result  of  diplomatic  negotiations 
between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  any  other 
belligerent  Government,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  cer- 
tain passages  in  the  Imperial  Government's  note  of  the  4th 
instant  might  app)ear  to  be  susceptible  of  that  construction. 
In  order,  however,  to  avoid  any  possible  misunderstanding, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  notifies  the  Imperial 
Government  that  it  cannot  for  a  moment  entertain,  much  less 
discuss,  a  suggestion  that  respect  by  German  naval  authori- 
ties for  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
high  seas  should  in  any  way  or  in  the  slightest  degree  be 
made  contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Government 
affecting  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  non-combatants.  Re- 
sponsibility in  such  matters  is  single,  not  joint;  absolute,  not 
relative. 

Department  of  State,  White  Book,  No.  Ill,  306. 


39.    HOW  TO  ENFORCE  PEACE 

(May  27,  1916) 

Address  to  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace  at 
Washington 

When  the  invitation  to  be  here  to-night  came  to  me,  I  was 
glad  to  accept  it, — not  because  it  offered  me  an  opportunity 
to  discuss  the  programme  of  the  League, — that  you  will,  I 
am  sure,  not  expect  of  me, — but  because  the  desire  of  the 
whole  world  now  turns  eagerly,  more  and  more  eagerly, 
towards  the  hope  of  peace,  and  there  is  just  reason  why  we 
should  take  our  part  in  counsel  upon  this  great  theme.  It  is 
right  that  I,  as  spokesmen  of  our  Government,  should  attempt 
to  give  expression  to  what  I  believe  to  be  the  thought  and 
purpose  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  this  vital 
matter. 

This  great  war  that  broke  so  suddenly  upon  the  world  two 
years  ago,  and  which  has  swept  within  its  flame  so  great  a 
part  of  the  civilized  world,  has  affected  us  very  profoundly. 


122      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

and  we  are  not  only  at  liberty,  it  is  perhaps  our  duty,  to 
speak  very  frankly  of  it  and  of  the  great  interests  of  civiliza- 
tion which  it  affects. 

With  its  causes  and  its  objects  we  are  not  concerned.  The 
obscure  fountains  from  which  its  stupendous  flood  has  burst 
forth  we  are  not  interested  to  search  for  or  explore.  But 
so  great  a  flood,  spread  far  and  wide  to  every  quarter  of 
the  globe,  has  of  necessity  engulfed  many  a  fair  province 
of  right  that  lies  very  near  to  us.  Our  own  rights  as  a 
Nation,  the  liberties,  the  privileges,  and  the  property  of  our 
people  have  been  profoundly  affected.  We  are  not  mere 
disconnected  lookers-on.  The  longer  the  war  lasts,  the  more 
deeply  do  we  become  concerned  that  it  should  be  brought  to 
an  end  and  the  world  be  permitted  to  resume  its  normal  life 
and  course  again.  And  when  it  does  come  to  an  end  we  shall 
be  as  much  concerned  as  the  nations  at  war  to  see  peace 
assume  an  aspect  of  permanence,  give  promise  of  days  from 
which  the  anxiety  of  uncertainty  shall  be  lifted,  bring  some 
assurance  that  peace  and  war  shall  always  hereafter  be  reck- 
oned part  of  the  common  interest  of  mankind.  We  are  par- 
ticipants, whether  we  would  or  not,  in  the  life  of  the  world. 
The  interests  of  all  nations  are  our  own  also.  We  are  part- 
ners with  the  rest.  What  affects  mankind  is  inevitably  our 
affair  as  well  as  the  affair  of  the  nations  of  Europe  and  of 
Asia. 

One  observation  on  the  causes  of  the  present  war  we  are 
at  liberty  to  make,  and  to  make  it  may  throw  some  light 
forward  upon  the  future,  as  well  as  backward  upon  the  past. 
It  is  plain  that  this  war  could  have  come  only  as  it  did, 
suddenly  and  out  of  secret  counsels,  without  warning  to  the 
world,  v/ithout  discussion,  without  any  of  the  deliberate 
movements  of  counsel  with  which  it  would  seem  natural 
to  approach  so  stupendous  a  contest.  It  is  probable  that 
if  it  had  been  foreseen  just  what  would  happen,  just  what 
alliances  would  be  formed,  just  what  forces  arrayed  against 
one  another,  those  who  brought  the  great  contest  on  would 
have  been  glad  to  substitute  conference  for  force.  If  we 
ourselves  had  been  afforded  some  opportunity  to  apprise 
the  belligerents  of  the  attitude  which  it  would  be  our  duty 
to  take,  of  the  policies  and  practices  against  which  we  would 


May  27]  HOW  TO  ENFORCE  PEACE  123 

feel  bound  to  use  all  our  moral  and  economic  strength,  and 
in  certain  circumstances  even  our  physical  strength  also, 
our  own  contribution  to  the  counsel  which  might  have 
averted  the  struggle  would  have  been  considered  worth 
weighing  and  regarding. 

And  the  lesson  which  the  shock  of  being  taken  by  sur- 
prise in  a  matter  so  deeply  vital  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  has  made  poignantly  clear  is,  that  the  peace  of  the 
world  must  henceforth  depend  upon  a  new  and  more  whole- 
some diplomacy.  Only  when  the  great  nations  of  the  world 
have  reached  some  sort  of  agreement  as  to  what  they  hold 
to  be  fundamental  to  their  common  interest,  and  as  to  some 
feasible  method  of  acting  in  concert  when  any  nation  or  group 
of  nations  seeks  to  disturb  those  fundamental  things,  can  we 
feel  that  civilization  is  at  last  in  a  way  of  justifying  its 
existence  and  claiming  to  be  finally  established.  It  is  clear 
that  nations  must  in  the  future  be  governed  by  the  same 
high  code  of  honor  that  we  demand  of  individuals. 

We  must,  indeed,  in  the  very  same  breath  with  which  we 
avow  this  conviction  admit  that  we  have  ourselves  upon 
occasion  in  the  past  been  offenders  against  the  law  of  diplo- 
macy which  we  thus  forecast;  but  our  conviction  is  not  the 
less  clear,  but  rather  the  more  clear,  on  that  account.  If 
this  war  has  accomplished  nothing  else  for  the  benefit  of  the 
world,  it  has  at  least  disclosed  a  great  moral  necessity  and 
set  forward  the  thinking  of  the  statesmen  of  the  world  by  a 
whole  age.  Repeated  utterances  of  the  leading  statesmen 
of  most  of  the  great  nations  now  engaged  in  war  have  made 
it  plain  that  their  thought  has  come  to  this,  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  public  right  must  henceforth  take  precedence  over 
the  individual  interests  of  particular  nations,  and  that  the 
nations  of  the  world  must  in  some  way  band  themselves  to- 
gether to  see  that  that  right  prevails  as  against  any  sort  of 
selfish  aggression;  that  henceforth  alliance  must  not  be  set 
up  against  alliance,  understanding  against  understanding,  but 
th:it  there  must  be  a  common  agreement  for  a  common 
object,  and  that  at  the  heart  of  that  common  object  must  lie 
the  inviolable  rights  of  peoples  and  of  mankind.  The  nations 
of  the  world  have  become  each  other's  neighbors.  It  is  to 
their  interest  that  they  should  understand  each  other.     In 


124      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

order  that  they  may  understand  each  other,  it  is  imperative 
that  they  should  agree  to  cooperate  in  a  common  cause,  and 
that  they  should  so  act  that  the  guiding  principle  of  that 
common  cause  shall  be  even-handed  and  impartial  justice. 

This  is  undoubtedly  the  thought  of  America.  This  is  what 
we  ourselves  will  say  when  there  comes  proper  occasion  to 
say  it.  In  the  dealings  of  nations  with  one  another  arbitrary 
force  must  be  rejected  and  we  must  move  forward  to  the 
thought  of  the  modern  world,  the  thought  of  which  peace 
is  the  very  atmosphere.  That  thought  constitutes  a  chief 
part  of  the  passionate  conviction  of  America. 

We  believe  these  fundamental  things:  First,  that  every 
people  has  a  right  to  choose  the  sovereignty  under  which 
they  shall  live.  Like  other  nations,  we  have  ourselves  no 
doubt  once  and  again  offended  against  that  principle  when 
for  a  little  while  controlled  by  selfish  passion,  as  our  franker 
historians  have  been  honorable  enough  to  admit;  but  it  has 
become  more  and  more  our  rule  of  life  and  action.  Second, 
that  the  small  states  of  the  world  have  a  right  to  enjoy  the 
same  respect  for  their  sovereignty  and  for  their  territorial 
integrity  that  great  and  powerful  nations  expect  and  insist 
upon.  And,  third,  that  the  world  has  a  right  to  be  free 
from  every  disturbance  of  its  peace  that  has  its  origin  in 
aggression  and  disregard  of  the  rights  of  peoples  and 
nations. 

So  sincerely  do  we  believe  in  these  things  that  I  am  sure 
that  I  speak  the  mind  and  wish  of  the  people  of  America 
when  I  say  that  the  United  States  is  willing  to  become  a 
partner  in  any  feasible  association  of  nations  formed  in  order 
to  realize  these  objects  and  make  them  secure  against  vio- 
lation. 

There  is  nothing  that  the  United  States  wants  for  itself 
that  any  other  nation  has.  We  are  willing,  on  the  contrary, 
to  limit  ourselves  along  with  them  to  a  prescribed  course  of 
duty  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others  which  will  check 
any  selfish  passion  of  our  own,  as  it  will  check  any  aggressive 
impulse  of  theirs. 

If  it  should  ever  be  our  privilege  to  suggest  or  initiate  a 
movement  for  peace  among  the  nations  now  at  war,  I  am 
sure  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  wish  their 


May  2  7]  HOW  TO  ENFORCE  PEACE  125 

Government  to  move  along  these  lines:  First,  such  a  settle- 
ment with  regard  to  their  own  immediate  interests  as  the 
belligerents  may  agree  upon.  We  have  nothing  material  of 
any  kind  to  ask  for  ourselves,  and  are  quite  aware  that  we 
are  in  no  sense  or  degree  parties  to  the  present  quarrel. 
Our  interest  is  only  in  peace  and  its  future  guarantees. 
Second,  an  universal  association  of  the  nations  to  maintain 
the  inviolate  security  of  the  highway  of  the  seas  for  the 
common  and  unhindered  use  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
and  to  prevent  any  war  begun  either  contrary  to  treaty 
covenants  or  without  warning  and  full  submission  of  the 
causes  to  the  opinion  of  the  world, — a  virtual  guarantee  of 
territorial  integrity  and  political  independence. 

But  I  did  not  come  here,  let  me  repeat,  to  discuss  a 
programme.  I  came  only  to  avow  a  creed  and  give  expres- 
sion to  the  confidence  I  feel  that  the  world  is  even  now 
up)on  the  eve  of  a  great  consummation,  when  some  common 
force  will  be  brought  into  existence  which  shall  safeguard 
right  as  the  first  and  most  fundamental  interest  of  all  peoples 
and  all  governments,  when  coercion  shall  be  summoned  not 
to  the  service  of  political  ambition  or  selfish  hostility,  but 
to  the  service  of  a  common  order,  a  common  justice,  and  a 
common  peace.  God  grant  that  the  dawn  of  that  day  of 
frank  dealing  and  of  settled  peace,  concord,  and  cooperation 
may  be  near  at  hand! 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


40.     PREPAREDNESS  TO  THE  SOLDIER 

(June  13,  1916) 

Address  at  the  Military  Academy,  West  Point 

I  look  upon  this  body  of  men  who  are  graduating  to-day 
with  a  peculiar  interest.  I  feel  like  congratulating  them 
that  they  are  living  in  a  day  not  only  so  interesting,  because 
so  fraught  with  change,  but  also  because  so  responsible. 
Days  of  responsibility  are  the  only  days  that  count  in  time, 
because  they  are  the  only  days  that  give  test  of  quality. 


126      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

They  are  the  only  days  when  manhood  and  purpose  is  tried 
out  as  if  by  fire.  I  need  not  tell  you  young  gentlemen  that 
you  are  not  like  an  ordinary  graduating  class  of  one  of  our 
universities.  The  men  in  those  classes  look  forward  to  the 
life  which  they  are  to  lead  after  graduation  with  a  great 
many  questions  in  their  mind.  Most  of  them  do  not  know 
exactly  what  their  lives  are  going  to  develop  into.  Some 
of  them  do  not  know  what  occupations  they  are  going  to 
follow.  All  of  them  are  conjecturing  what  will  be  the  line 
of  duty  and  advancement  and  the  ultimate  goal  of  success 
for  them. 

There  is  no  conjecture  for  you.  You  have  enlisted  in 
something  that  does  not  stop  when  you  leave  the  Academy, 
for  you  then  only  begin  to  realize  it,  which  then  only  begins 
to  be  filled  with  the  full  richness  of  its  meaning,  and  you 
can  look  forward  with  absolute  certainty  to  the  sort  of 
thing  that  you  will  be  obliged  to  do. 

This  has  always  been  true  of  graduating  classes  at  West 
Point,  but  the  certainty  that  some  of  the  older  classes  used 
to  look  forward  to  was  a  dull  certainty.  Some  of  the  old 
days  in  the  army,  I  fancy,  were  not  very  interesting  days. 
Sometimes  men  like  the  present  Chief  of  Staff,  for  example, 
could  fill  their  lives  with  the  interest  of  really  knowing  and 
understanding  the  Indians  of  the  Western  plains,  knowing 
what  was  going  on  inside  their  minds  and  being  able  to  be 
the  intermediary  between  them  and  those  who  dealt  with 
them,  by  speaking  their  sign  language,  could  enrich  their 
lives;  but  the  ordinary  life  of  the  average  officer  at  a 
Western  post  can  not  have  been  very  exciting,  and  I  think 
with  admiration  of  those  dull  years  through  which  officers 
who  had  not  a  great  deal  to  do  insisted,  nevertheless,  upon 
being  efficient  and  worth  while  and  keeping  their  men  fit,  at 
any  rate,  for  the  duty  to  which  they  were  assigned. 

But  in  your  case  there  are  many  extraordinary  possi- 
bilities, because,  gentlemen,  no  man  can  certainly  tell  you 
what  the  immediate  future  is  going  to  be  either  in  the  history 
of  this  country  or  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is  not  by 
accident  that  the  present  great  war  came  in  Europe.  Every 
element  was  there,  and  the  contest  had  to  come  sooner  or 
later,  and  it  is  not  going  to  be  by  accident  that  the  results 


June  13]       PREPAREDNESS  OF  THE  SOLDIER       127 

are  worked  out,  but  by  purpose — ^by  the  purpose  of  the  men 
who  are  strong  enough  to  have  guiding  minds  and  indom- 
itable wills  when  the  time  for  decision  and  settlement  comes. 
And  the  part  that  the  United  States  is  to  play  has  this  dis- 
tinction in  it,  that  it  is  to  be  in  any  event  a  disinterested  part. 
There  is  nothing  that  the  United  States  wants  that  it  has 
to  get  by  war,  but  there  are  a  great  many  things  that  the 
United  States  has  to  do.  It  has  to  see  that  its  life  is  not 
interfered  with  by  anybody  else  who  wants  something. 

These  are  days  when  we  are  making  preparation,  when 
the  thing  most  commonly  discussed  around  every  sort  of 
table,  in  every  sort  of  circle,  in  the  shops  and  in  the  streets, 
is  preparedness,  and  undoubtedly,  gentlemen,  that  is  the 
present  imperative  duty  of  America,  to  be  prepared.  But 
we  ought  to  know  what  we  are  preparing  for.  I  remember 
hearing  a  wise  man  say  once  that  the  old  maxim  that  "every- 
thing comes  to  the  man  who  waits"  is  all  very  well  provided 
he  knows  what  he  is  waiting  for;  and  preparedness  might 
be  a  very  hazardous  thing  if  we  did  not  know  what  we 
wanted  to  do  with  the  force  that  we  mean  to  accumulate 
and  to  get  into  fighting  shape. 

America,  fortimately,  does  know  what  she  wants  to  do 
with  her  force.  America  came  into  existence  for  a  par- 
ticular reason.  When  you  look  about  upon  these  beautiful 
hills,  and  up  this  stately  stream,  and  then  let  your  imagina- 
tion run  over  the  whole  body  of  this  great  coimtry  from 
which  you  youngsters  are  drawn,  far  and  wide,  you  remem- 
ber that  while  it  had  aboriginal  inhabitants,  while  there  were 
people  living  here,  there  was  no  civilization  which  we  dis- 
placed. It  was  as  if  in  the  Providence  of  God  a  continent 
had  been  kept  unused  and  waiting  for  a  peaceful  people  who 
loved  liberty  and  the  rights  of  men  more  than  they  loved 
anything  else,  to  come  and  set  up  an  unselfish  common- 
wealth. It  is  a  very  extraordinary  thing.  You  are  so 
familiar  with  American  history,  at  any  rate  in  its  general 
character — I  don't  accuse  you  of  knowing  the  details  of  it, 
for  I  never  found  the  youngster  who  did — but  you  are  so 
familiar  with  the  general  character  of  American  history  that 
it  does  not  seem  strange  to  you,  but  it  is  a  very  strange 
history.    There  is  none  other  like  it  in  the  whole  annals  of 


128      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

mankind — of  men  gathering  out  of  every  civilized  nation 
of  the  world  on  an  unused  continent  and  building  up  a  polity 
exactly  to  suit  themselves,  not  under  the  domination  of  any 
ruling  dynasty  or  of  the  ambitions  of  any  royal  family; 
doing  what  they  pleased  with  their  own  life  on  a  free  space 
of  land  which  God  had  made  rich  with  every  resource  which 
was  necessary  for  the  civilization  they  meant  to  build  up. 
There  is  nothing  like  it. 

Now,  what  we  are  preparing  to  do  is  to  see  that  nobody 
mars  that  and  that,  being  safe  itself  against  interference 
from  the  outside,  all  of  its  force  is  going  to  be  behind  its 
moral  idea,  and  mankind  is  going  to  know  that  when  America 
speaks  she  means  what  she  says.  I  heard  a  man  say  to 
another,  "If  you  wish  me  to  consider  you  witty,  I  must  really 
trouble  you  to  make  a  joke."  We  have  a  right  to  say  to 
the  rest  of  mankind,  "If  you  don't  want  to  interfere  with 
us,  if  you  are  disinterested,  we  must  really  trouble  you  to 
give  evidence  of  that  fact."  We  are  not  in  for  anything 
selfish,  and  we  want  the  whole  mighty  power  of  America 
thrown  into  that  scale  and  not  into  any  other. 

You  know  that  the  chief  thing  that  is  holding  many  people 
back  from  enthusiasm  for  what  is  called  preparedness  is  the 
fear  of  militarism.  I  want  to  say  a  word  to  you  young 
gentlemen  about  militarism.  You  are  not  militarists  because 
you  are  military.  Militarism  does  not  consist  in  the  exist- 
ence of  an  army,  not  even  in  the  existence  of  a  very  great 
army.  Militarism  is  a  spirit.  It  is  a  point  of  view.  It  is  a 
system.  It  is  a  purpose.  The  purpose  of  militarism  is  to 
use  armies  for  aggression.  The  spirit  of  militarism  is  the 
opposite  of  the  civilian  spirit,  the  citizen  spirit.  In  a  country 
where  militarism  prevails  the  military  man  looks  down  upon 
the  civilian,  regards  him  as  inferior,  thinks  of  him  as  intended 
for  his,  the  military  man's,  support  and  use;  and  just  so 
long  as  America  is  America  that  spirit  and  point  of  view  is 
impossible  with  us.  There  is  as  yet  in  this  country,  so  far 
as  I  can  discover,  no  taint  of  the  spirit  of  militarism.  You 
young  gentlemen  are  not  preferred  in  promotion  because  of 
the  families  you  belong  to.  You  are  not  drawn  into  the 
Academy  because  you  belong  to  certain  influential  circles. 


June  13]       PREPAREDNESS  OF  THE  SOLDIER       129 

You  do  not  come  here  with  a  long  tradition  of  military  pride 
back  of  you. 

You  are  picked  out  from  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  be  that  part  of  the  force  of  the  United  States  which  makes 
its  polity  safe  against  interference.  You  are  the  part  of 
American  citizens  who  say  to  those  who  would  interfere, 
"You  must  not"  and  "You  shall  not."  But  you  are  American 
citizens,  and  the  idea  I  want  to  leave  with  you  boys  to-day 
is  this:  No  matter  what  comes,  always  remember  that  first 
of  all  you  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  before  you  are 
officers,  and  that  you  are  officers  because  you  represent  in 
your  particular  profession  what  the  citizenship  of  the  United 
States  stands  for.  There  is  no  danger  of  militarism  if  you 
are  genuine  Americans,  and  I  for  one  do  not  doubt  that 
you  are.  When  you  begin  to  have  the  militaristic  spirit — 
not  the  military  spirit,  that  is  all  right — then  begin  to  doubt 
whether  you  are  Americans  or  not. 

You  know  that  one  thing  in  which  our  forefathers  took 
pride  was  this,  that  the  civil  power  is  superior  to  the  military 
power  in  the  United  States.  Once  and  again  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  so  admired  some  great  military  man 
as  to  make  him  President  of  the  United  States,  when  he 
became  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  of  the  United 
States,  but  he  was  commander-in-chief  because  he  was  Presi- 
dent, not  because  he  had  been  trained  to  arms,  and  his 
authority  was  civil,  not  military.  I  can  teach  you  nothing 
of  military  power,  but  I  am  instructed  by  the  Consitution  to 
use  you  for  constitutional  and  patriotic  purposes.  And  that 
is  the  only  use  you  care  to  be  put  to.  That  is  the  only 
use  you  ought  to  care  to  be  put  to,  because,  after  all,  what 
is  the  use  in  being  an  American  if  you  do  not  know  what 
it  is? 

You  have  read  a  great  deal  in  the  books  about  the  pride 
of  the  old  Roman  citizen,  who  always  felt  like  drawing  him- 
self to  his  full  height  when  he  said,  "I  am  a  Roman,"  but  as 
compared  with  the  pride  that  must  have  risen  to  his  heart, 
our  pride  has  a  new  distinction,  not  the  distinction  of  the 
mere  imperial  power  of  a  great  empire,  not  the  distinction 
of  bemg  masters  of  the  world,  but  the  distinction  of  carry- 


130      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

ing  certain  lights  for  the  v/orld  that  the  world  has  never  so 
distinctly  seen  before,  certain  guiding  lights  of  liberty  and 
principle  and  justice.  We  have  drawn  our  people,  as  you 
know,  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  we  have  been  some- 
what disturbed  recently,  gentlemen,  because  some  of  those — 
though  I  believe  a  very  small  number — whom  we  have  drawn 
into  our  citizenship  have  not  taken  into  their  hearts  the 
spirit  of  America  and  have  loved  other  countries  more  than 
they  loved  the  country  of  their  adoption ;  and  we  have  talked 
a  great  deal  about  Americanism.  It  ought  to  be  a  matter  of 
pride  with  us  to  know  what  Americanism  really  consists  in. 

Americanism  consists  in  utterly  believing  in  the  principles 
of  America  and  putting  them  first  as  above  anything  that 
might  by  chance  come  into  competition  with  it.  And  I,  for 
my  part,  believe  that  the  American  test  is  a  spiritual  test. 
If  a  man  has  to  make  excuses  for  what  he  had  done  as  an 
American,  I  doubt  his  Americanism.  He  ought  to  know  at 
every  step  of  his  action  that  the  motive  that  lies  behind  what 
he  does  is  a  motive  which  no  American  need  be  ashamed  of 
for  a  moment.  Now,  we  ought  to  put  this  test  to  every 
man  we  know.  We  ought  to  let  it  be  known  that  nobody 
who  does  not  put  America  first  can  consort  with  us. 

But  we  ou^t  to  set  them  the  example.  We  ought  to 
set  them  the  example  by  thinking  American  thoughts,  by 
entertaining  American  purposes,  and  those  thoughts  and 
purposes  will  stand  the  test  of  example  anywhere  in  the 
world,  for  they  are  intended  for  the  betterment  of  mankind. 

So  I  have  come  to  say  these  few  words  to  you  to-day, 
gentlemen,  for  a  double  purpose;  first  of  all  to  express  my 
personal  good  wishes  to  you  in  your  graduation,  and  my 
personal  interest  in  you,  and  second  of  all  to  remind  you 
how  we  must  all  stand  together  in  one  spirit  as  lovers  and 
servants  of  America.  And  that  means  something  more  than 
lovers  and  servants  merely  of  the  United  States.  You  have 
heard  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  gentlemen.  You  know  that 
we  are  already  spiritual  partners  with  both  continents  of 
this  hemisphere  and  that  America  means  something  which  is 
bigger  even  than  the  United  States,  and  that  we  stand  here 
with  the  glorious  power  of  this  country  ready  to  swing  it 
out  into  the  field  of  action  whenever  liberty  and  inde- 


June  13]       PREPAREDNESS  OF  THE  SOLDIER       131 

pendence  and  political  integrity  are  threatened  anywhere  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere.  And  we  are  ready — ^nobody  has 
authorized  me  to  say  this,  but  I  am  sure  of  it — we  are  ready 
to  join  with  the  other  nations  of  the  world  in  seeing  that  the 
kind  of  justice  prevails  everywhere  that  we  believe  in. 

So  that  you  are  graduating  to-day,  gentlemen,  into  a  new 
distinction.  Glory  attaches  to  all  these  men  whose  names 
we  love  to  recount  who  have  made  the  annals  of  the  Ameri- 
can Army  distinguished.  They  played  the  part  they  were 
called  upon  to  play  with  honor  and  with  extraordinary  char- 
acter and  success.  I  am  congratulating  you,  not  because 
you  will  be  better  than  they,  but  because  you  will  have  a 
wider  world  of  thought  and  conception  to  play  your  part  in. 
I  am  an  American,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  us  loves 
a  blustering  nationality,  a  nationality  with  a  chip  on  its 
shoulder,  a  nationality  with  its  elbows  out  and  its  swagger  on. 

We  love  that  quiet,  self-respecting,  unconquerable  spirit 
which  does  not  strike  until  it  is  necessary  to  strike,  and 
then  strikes  to  conquer.  Never  since  I  was  a  youngster  have 
I  been  afraid  of  the  noisy  man.  I  have  always  been  afraid 
of  the  still  man.  I  have  always  been  afraid  of  the  quiet 
man.  I  had  a  classmate  at  college  who  was  most  dangerous 
when  he  was  most  affable.  When  he  was  maddest  he  seemed 
to  have  the  sweetest  temper  in  the  world.  He  would  ap- 
proach you  with  the  most  ingratiating  smile,  and  then  you 
knew  that  every  red  corpuscle  in  his  blood  was  up  and 
shouting.  If  you  work  things  off  in  your  elbows,  you  do 
not  work  them  off  in  your  mind;  you  do  not  work  them  off 
in  your  purposes. 

So  my  conception  of  America  is  a  conception  of  infinite 
dignity,  along  with  quiet,  tmquestionable  power.  I  ask  you, 
gentlemen,  to  join  with  me  in  that  conception,  and  let  us  all 
in  our  several  spheres  be  soldiers  together  to  realize  it. 

New  York  Times,  June  14,  19 16. 


132      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

41.    DEMOCRACY  OF  BUSINESS 

(July  10,  1916) 

Address  at  Salesmanship  Congress,  Detroit 

*  *  *  Some  Democrats  had  noticed  that  the  inclination 
to  suppose  that  only  some  persons  understood  the  business 
of  America  had  a  tendency  to  rim  into  the  assumption  that 
the  number  of  persons  who  understood  that  business  was 
very  small,  and  tiiat  there  were  only  certain  groups  and  asso- 
ciations of  gentlemen  who  were  entitled  to  be  trustees  of 
that  business  for  the  rest  of  us.  I  have  never  subscribed, 
in  any  walk  of  life,  to  the  trustee  theory.  I  have  always 
been  inclined  to  believe  that  the  business  of  the  world  was 
best  understood  by  those  men  who  were  in  the  struggle  for 
maintenance  not  only,  but  for  success.  The  man  who  knows 
the  strength  of  the  tide  is  the  man  who  is  swimming  against 
it,  not  the  man  who  is  floating  with  it.  The  man  who  is 
immersed  in  the  beginnings  of  business,  who  is  trying  to  get 
his  foothold,  who  is  trying  to  get  other  men  to  believe  in 
him  and  lend  him  money  and  trust  him  to  make  profitable 
use  of  that  money,  is  the  man  who  knows  what  the  business 
conditions  in  the  IJnited  States  are,  and  I  would  rather  take 
his  counsel  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done  for  business  than  the 
counsel  of  any  established  captain  of  industry.  The  captain 
of  industry  is  looking  backward  and  the  other  man  is  look- 
ing forward.  The  conditions  of  business  change  with  every 
generation;  change  with  every  decade;  are  now  changing  at 
an  almost  breathless  pace,  and  the  men  who  have  made  good 
are  not  feeling  the  tides  as  the  other  men  are  feeling  them. 
The  men  who  have  got  into  the  position  of  captaincy,  unless 
they  are  of  unusual  fiber,  unless  they  are  of  unusually  catholic 
sympathy,  unless  they  have  continued  to  touch  shoulders 
with  the  ranks,  unless  they  have  continued  to  keep  close 
communion  with  the  men  they  are  employing  and  the  young 
men  they  are  bringing  up  as  their  assistants,  do  not  belong 
to  the  struggle  in  which  we  should  see  that  every  unreason- 
able obstacle  is  removed  and  every  reasonable  help  afforded 
Uiat  public  policy  can  afford. 


July  lo]         DEMOCRACY  OF  BUSINESS  133 

So  I  invite  your  thoughts,  in  what  I  sincerely  believe  to  be 
an  entirely  nonpartisan  spirit,  to  the  democracy  of  business. 
An  act  was  recently  passed  in  Congress  that  some  of  the 
most  intelligent  business  men  of  this  country  earnestly  op- 
posed,— men  whom  I  knew,  men  whose  character  I  trusted, 
men  whose  integrity  I  absolutely  believed  in.  I  refer  to  the 
Federal  Reserve  Act,  by  which  we  intended  to  take,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  taking  credit  out  of  the  control  of  a  small  number 
of  men  and  making  it  available  to  everybody  who  had  real 
commercial  assets,  and  the  very  men  who  opposed  that  act, 
and  opposed  it  conscientiously,  now  admit  that  it  saved  the 
country  from  a  ruinous  panic  when  the  stress  of  war  came 
on,  and  that  it  is  the  salvation  of  every  average  business 
man  who  is  in  the  midst  of  the  tides  that  I  Have  been  trying 
to  describe.  -What  does  that  mean,  gentlemen?  It  means 
that  you  can  get  a  settled  point  of  view  and  can  conscien- 
tiously oppose  progress  if  you  do  not  need  progress  yourself. 
That  is  what  it  means.  I  am  not  impugning  the  intelligence 
even  of  the  men  who  opposed  these  things,  because  the  same 
thing  happens  to  every  man  if  he  is  not  of  extraordinary 
make-up,  if  he  can  not  see  the  necessity  for  a  thing  that  he 
does  not  himself  need.  When  you  have  abimdant  credit  and 
control  of  credit,  you,  of  course,  do  not  need  that  the  area 
should  be  broadened. 

The  suspicion  is  beginning  to  dawn  in  many  quarters  that 
the  average  man  knows  the  business  necessities  of  the  coun- 
try just  as  well  as  the  extraordinary  man  does.  I  believe  in 
the  ordinary  man.  If  I  did  not  believe  in  the  ordinary  man 
I  would  move  out  of  a  democracy  and,  if  I  found  an  en- 
durable monarchy,  I  would  live  in  it.  The  very  conception 
of  America  is  based  upon  the  validity  of  the  judgments  of 
the  average  man,  and  I  call  you  to  witness  that  there  have 
not  been  many  catastrophes  in  American  history.  I  call 
you  to  witness  that  the  average  judgments  of  the  voters  of 
the  United  States  have  been  sound  judgments.  I  call  you  to 
witness  that  this  great  impulse  of  the  common  opinion  has 
been  a  lifting  impulse,  and  not  a  depressing  impulse.  What 
is  the  object  of  associations  like  that  which  is  gathered  here 
to-day,  this  Salesmanship  Congress?  The  moral  of  it  is 
that  a  few  men  can  not  determine  the  interests  of  a  large 


134      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

body  of  men,  and  that  the  only  way  to  determine  them  and 
advance  them  is  to  have  a  representative  assembly  chosen  by 
themselves  get  together  and  take  common  counsel  regarding 
them.  And  do  you  not  notice  that  in  every  great  occupa- 
tion in  the  United  States  there  is  beginning  to  be  more  and 
more  of  this  common  counsel?  And  have  you  not  noticed 
that  the  more  common  counsel  you  have  the  higher  the 
standards  are  that  are  insisted  upon? 

I  attended  the  other  day  the  Congress  of  the  Advertising 
Men,  and  their  motto  is  "Truth  and  fair  dealing  in  what  you 
represent  your  business  to  be  and  your  goods  to  be."  I  have 
no  doubt  that  in  every  association  like  this  the  prevailing 
sentiment  is  that  only  by  the  highest  standards — ^I  mean  the 
highest  moral  standards — can  you  achieve  the  most  perma- 
nent and  satisfactory  business  results.  Was  that  the  preva- 
lent conception  before  these  associations  were  drawn  to- 
gether? Have  you  not  found  the  moral  judgment  of  the 
average  man  steady  the  whole  process  and  clarify  it?  Do 
you  not  know  more  after  every  conference  with  your  fellows 
than  you  did  before?  I  never  went  into  a  committee  of 
any  kind  upon  any  important  public  matter,  or  private 
matter  so  far  as  that  is  concerned,  that  I  did  not  come  out 
with  an  altered  judgment  and  knowing  much  more  about  the 
matter  than  when  I  went  in;  and  not  only  knowing  much 
more,  but  knowing  that  the  common  judgment  arrived  at  was 
better  than  I  could  have  suggested  when  I  went  in.  That 
is  the  universal  experience  of  candid  men.  If  it  were  not 
so,  there  would  be  no  object  in  congresses  like  this.  Yet 
whenever  we  attempt  legislation,  we  find  ourselves  in  this 
case:  We  are  not  in  the  presence  of  the  many  who  can 
counsel  wisely,  but  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  few  who 
counsel  too  narrowly,  and  the  means  by  which  we  have  been 
trying  to  break  away  from  that  is  not  by  excluding  these 
gentlemen  who  constituted  the  narrow  circles  of  advice,  but 
by  associating  them  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  their 
fellow  citizens. 

I  have  had  some  say  that  I  was  not  accessible  to  them, 
and  when  I  inquired  into  it  I  found  they  meant  that  I  did 
not  personally  invite  them.  They  did  not  know  how  to 
come  without  being  invited,  and  they  did  not  care  to  come 


July  lo]         DEMOCRACY  OF  BUSINESS  135 

if  they  came  upon  the  same  terms  with  everybody  else, 
knowing  that  everybody  else  was  welcome  whom  I  had  time 
to  confer  with. 

Am  I  telling  you  things  unobserved  by  you?  Do  you  not 
know  that  these  things  are  true?  And  do  you  not  believe 
with  me  that  the  affairs  of  the  Nation  can  be  better  con- 
ducted upon  the  basis  of  general  counsel  than  upon  the 
basis  of  special  counsel?  Men  are  colored  and  governed 
by  their  occupations  and  their  surroundings  and  their  habits. 
If  I  wanted  to  change  the  law  radically,  I  would  not  con- 
sult a  lawyer.  If  I  wanted  to  change  business  methods 
radically,  I  would  not  consult  a  man  who  had  made  a  con- 
spicuous success  by  using  the  present  methods  that  I  wanted 
to  change.  Not  because  I  would  distrust  these  men,  but 
because  I  would  know  that  they  would  not  change  their 
thinking  over  night,  that  they  would  have  to  go  through  a 
long  process  of  reacquaintance  with  the  circumstances  of 
the  time,  the  new  circumstances  of  the  time,  before  they 
could  be  converted  to  my  point  of  view.  You  get  a  good 
deal  more  light  on  the  street  than  you  do  in  the  closet.  You 
get  a  good  deal  more  light  by  keeping  your  ears  open  among 
the  rank  and  file  of  your  fellow  citizens  than  you  do  in  any 
private  conference  whatever.  I  would  rather  hear  what  the 
men  are  talking  about  on  the  trains  and  in  the  shops  and  by 
the  fireside  than  hear  anything  else,  because  I  want  guidance 
and  I  know  I  could  get  it  there,  and  what  I  am  constantly 
asking  is  that  men  should  bring  me  that  counsel,  because 
I  am  not  privileged  to  determine  things  independently  of 
this  counsel.    I  am  your  servant,  not  your  ruler. 

One  thing  that  we  are  now  trying  to  convert  the  small 
circles  to  that  the  big  circles  are  already  converted  to  is  that 
this  country  needs  a  merchant  marine  and  ought  to  get  one. 
I  have  found  that  I  had  a  great  deal  more  resistance  when 
I  tried  to  help  business  than  when  I  tried  to  interfere  with 
it.  I  have  had  a  great  deal  more  resistance  of  counsel,  of 
special  counsel,  when  I  tried  to  alter  the  things  that  are 
established  than  when  I  tried  to  do  anything  else.  We  call 
ourselves  a  liberal  nation,  whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we 
are  one  of  the  most  conservative  nations  in  the  world.  If 
vou  want  to  make  enemies,  try  to  change  something.    You 


136      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

know  why  it  is.  To  do  things  to-day  exactly  the  way  you 
did  them  yesterday  saves  thinking.  It  does  not  cost  you 
anything.  You  have  acquired  the  habit;  you  know  the 
routine;  you  do  not  have  to  plan  anything,  and  it  frightens 
you  with  a  hint  of  exertion  to  learn  that  you  will  have  to  do 
it  a  different  way  to-morrow.  Until  I  became  a  college 
teacher,  I  used  to  think  that  the  young  men  were  radical, 
but  college  boys  are  the  greatest  conservatives  I  ever  tackled 
in  my  life,  largely  because  they  have  associated  too  much 
with  their  fathers.  What  you  have  to  do  with  them  is  to 
take  them  up  upon  some  visionary  height  and  show  them 
the  map  of  the  world  as  it  is.  Do  not  let  them  see  their 
father's  factory.  Do  not  let  them  see  their  father's  counting- 
house.  Let  them  see  the  great  valleys  teeming  with  labori- 
ous people.  Let  them  see  the  great  struggle  of  men  in 
realms  they  never  dreamed  of.  Let  them  see  the  great  emo- 
tional power  that  is  in  the  world,  the  great  ambitions,  the 
great  hopes,  the  great  fears.  Give  them  some  picture  of 
mankind,  and  then  their  father's  business  and  every  other 
man's  business  will  begin  to  fall  into  place.  They  will  see 
that  it  is  an  item  and  not  the  whole  thing;  and  they  will 
sometimes  see  that  the  item  is  not  properly  related  to  the 
whole,  and  what  they  will  get  interested  in  will  be  to  relate 
the  item  to  the  whole,  so  that  it  will  form  part  of  the  force, 
and  not  part  of  the  impediment. 

This  country,  above  every  country  in  the  world,  gentle- 
men, is  meant  to  lift;  it  is  meant  to  add  to  the  forces  that 
improve.  It  is  meant  to  add  to  everything  that  betters  the 
world,  that  gives  it  better  thinking,  more  honest  endeavor,  a 
closer  grapple  of  man  with  man,  so  that  we  will  all  be  pulling 
together  like  one  irresistible  team  in  a  single  harness.  That 
is  the  reason  why  it  seemed  wise  to  substitute  for  the  harsh 
processes  of  the  law,  which  merely  lays  its  hand  on  your 
shoulder  after  you  have  sinned  and  threatens  you  with 
punishment,  some  of  the  milder  and  more  helpful  processes  of 
counsel.  That  is  the  reason  the  Federal  Trade  Commission 
was  established, — so  that  men  would  have  some  place  where 
they  could  take  counsel  as  to  what  the  law  was  and  what 
the  law  permitted;  and  also  take  counsel  as  to  whether  the 
law  itself  was  right  and  advice  had  not  better  be  taken  as 


July  lo]         DEMOCRACY  OF  BUSINESS  137 

to  its  alteration.  The  processes  of  counsel  are  the  only 
processes  of  accommodation,  not  the  processes  of  punish- 
ment. Punishment  retards  but  it  does  not  lift  up.  Punish- 
ment impedes  but  it  does  not  improve.  And  we  ought  to 
substitute  for  the  harsh  processes  of  the  law,  wherever  we 
can,  the  milder  and  gentler  and  more  helpful  processes  of 
counsel. 

*  *  *  There  is  a  task  ahead  of  us  of  most  colossal  dif- 
ficulty. We  have  not  been  accustomed  to  the  large  world 
of  international  business  and  we  have  got  to  get  accustomed 
to  it  right  away.  All  provincials  have  got  to  take  a  back 
seat.  All  men  who  are  afraid  of  competition  have  got  to 
take  a  back  seat.  All  men  who  depend  upon  anything  except 
their  intelligence  and  their  efficiency  have  got  to  take  a 
back  seat.  *  *  * 

We  are  done  with  provincialism  in  the  statesmanship  of 
the  United  States,  and  we  have  got  to  have  a  view  now 
and  a  horizon  as  wide  as  the  world  itself.  And  when  I 
look  aroimd  upon  an  alert  company  like  this,  it  seems  to  me 
in  my  imagination  they  are  almost  straining  at  the  leash. 
They  are  waiting  to  be  let  loose  upon  this  great  race  that  is 
now  going  to  challenge  our  abilities.  For  my  part,  I  shall 
look  forward  to  the  result  with  absolute  and  serene  confi- 
dence, because  the  spirit  of  the  United  States  is  an  inter- 
national spirit,  if  we  conceive  it  right.  This  is  not  the  home 
of  any  particular  race  of  men.  This  is  not  the  home 
of  any  particular  set  of  political  traditions.  This  is  a  home 
the  doors  of  which  have  been  opened  from  the  first  to  man- 
kind, to  everybody  who  loved  liberty,  to  everybody  whose 
ideal  was  equality  of  opportunity,  to  everybody  whose  heart 
was  moved  by  the  fundamental  instincts  and  sympathies  of 
humanity.  That  is  America,  and  now  it  is  as  if  the  nations  of 
the  world,  sampled  and  united  here,  were  in  their  new  union 
and  new  common  understanding  turning  about  to  serve  the 
world  with  all  the  honest  processes  of  business  and  of  enter- 
prise. I  am  happy  that  I  should  be  witnessing  the  dawn  of 
the  day  when  America  is  indeed  to  come  into  her  own. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


138      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 
42.     PREPAREDNESS   TO   PRESERVE  PEACE 

(July  10,  19 1 6) 
Address  at  Toledo 

This  is  an  entire  surprise  party  to  me.  I  did  not  know  I 
was  going  to  have  the  pleasure  of  stopping  long  enough  to 
address  any  number  of  you,  but  I  am  very  glad  indeed  to 
give  you  my  very  cordial  greetings  and  to  express  my  very 
great  interest  in  this  interesting  city. 

General  Sherwood  said  that  there  were  many  things  we 
agreed  about,  there  is  one  thing  we  disagree  about.  General 
Sherwood  has  been  opposing  preparedness,  and  I  have  been 
advocating  it,  and  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  found  him  on  the 
other  side.  Because,  I  think,  you  will  bear  me  witness, 
fellow  citizens,  that  in  advocating  preparedness  I  have  not 
been  advocating  hostility.  You  will  bear  me  witness  that  I 
have  been  a  persistent  friend  of  peace  and  that  nothing  but 
unmistakable  necessity  will  drive  me  from  that  position.  I 
think  it  is  a  matter  of  sincere  congratulation  to  us  that  our 
neighbor  Republic  to  the  south  shows  evidences  of  at  last 
believing  in  our  friendly  intentions;  that  while  we  must  pro- 
tect our  border  and  see  to  it  that  our  sovereignty  is  not 
impugned,  we  are  ready  to  respect  their  sovereignty  also,  and 
to  be  their  friends,  and  not  their  enemies. 

The  real  uses  of  intelligence,  my  fellow  citizens,  are  the 
uses  of  peace.  Any  body  of  men  can  get  up  a  row,  but  only 
an  intelligent  body  of  men  can  get  together  and  cooperate. 
Peace  is  not  only  a  test  of  a  nation's  patience;  it  is  also  a 
test  of  whether  the  nation  knows  how  to  conduct  its  rela- 
tions or  not.  It  takes  time  to  do  intelligent  things,  and 
it  does  not  take  any  time  to  do  unintelligent  things.  I 
can  lose  my  temper  in  a  minute,  but  it  takes  me  a  long 
time  to  keep  it,  and  I  think  that  if  you  were  to  subject  my 
Scotch-Irish  blood  to  the  proper  kind  of  analysis,  you  would 
find  that  it  was  fighting  blood,  and  that  it  is  pretty,  hard 
for  a  man  born  that  way  to  keep  quiet  and  do  things  in  the 
way  in  which  his  intelligence  tells  him  he  ought  to  do  them. 
I  know  just  as  well  as  that  I  am  standing  here  that  I  rep- 


July  lo]         PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE  139  > 

resent  and  am  the  servant  of  a  Nation  that  loves  peace,  and 
that  loves  it  upon  the  proper  basis;  loves  it  not  because  it  is 
afraid  of  anybody;  loves  it  not  because  it  does  not  under- 
stand and  mean  to  maintain  its  rights,  butt)ecause  it  knows 
that  humanity  is  something  in  which  we  are  all  linked  to- 
gether, and  that  it  behooves  the  United  States,  just  as  long 
as  it  is  possible,  to  hold  off  from  becoming  involved  in  a  strife 
which  makes  it  all  the  more  necessary  that  some  part  of  the 
world  should  keep  cool  while  all  the  rest  of  it  is  hot.  Here 
in  America,  for  the  time  being,  are  the  spaces,  the  cool 
spaces,  of  thoughtfulness,  and  so  long  as  we  are  allowed  to 
do  so,  we  will  serve  and  not  contend  with  the  rest  of  our 
fellow  men.  We  are  the  more  inclined  to  do  this  because  the 
very  principles  upon  which  our  Government  is  based  are 
principles  of  common  counsel  and  not  of  contest. 

So,  my  fellow  citizens,  I  congratulate  myself  upon  this 
opportunity,  brief  as  it  is,  to  give  you  my  greetings  and  to 
convey  to  you  my  congratulations  that  the  signs  that  sur- 
round us  are  all  signs  of  peace. 

White  Ho^se  Pamphlet. 


43.    LOYALTY 

(July  13,  1916) 

Address  at  Citizenship  Convention,  Washington 

I  have  come  here  for  the  simple  purpose  of  expressing  my 
very  deep  interest  in  what  these  conferences  are  intended  to 
attain.  It  is  not  fair  to  the  great  multitudes  of  hopeful  men 
and  women  who  press  into  this  country  from  other  countries 
that  we  should  leave  them  without  that  friendly  and  inti- 
mate instruction  which  will  enable  them  very  soon  after  they 
come  to  find  out  what  America  is  like  at  heart  and  what 
America  is  intended  for  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  the  chief  school  that  these  people  must 
attend  after  they  get  here  is  the  school  which  all  of  us 
attend,  which  is  furnished  by  the  life  of  the  communities  in 
which  we  live  and  the  nation  to  which  we  belong.     It  has 


140      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 

been  a  very  touching  thought  to  me  sometimes  to  think  of 
the  hopes  which  have  drawn  these  people  to  America.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  many  a  simple  soul  has  been  thrilled  by 
that  great  statue  standing  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  and 
seeming  to  lift  the  light  of  liberty  for  the  guidance  of  the 
feet  of  men ;  and  I  can  imagine  that  they  have  expected  here 
something  ideal  in  the  treatment  that  they  will  receive, 
something  ideal  in  the  laws  which  they  would  have  to  live 
under,  and  it  has  caused  me  many  a  time  to  turn  upon  myself 
the  eye  of  examination  to  see  whether  there  burned  in  me  the 
true  light  of  the  American  spirit  which  they  expected  to  find 
here.  It  is  easy,  my  fellow-citizens,  to  communicate  physical 
lessons,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  communicate  spiritual  les- 
sons. America  was  intended  to  be  a  spirit  among  the  nations 
of  the  world,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  conferences  like  this 
to  find  out  the  best  way  to  introduce  the  newcomers  to  this 
spirit,  and  by  that  very  interest  m  them  to  enhance  and 
purify  in  ourselves  the  thing  that  ought  to  make  America 
great  and  not  only  ought  to  make  her  great,  but  ought  to 
make  her  exhibit  a  spirit  unlike  any  other  nation  in  the 
world. 

I  have  never  been  among  those  who  felt  comfortable  in 
boasting  of  the  sup)eriority  of  America  over  other  countries. 
The  way  to  cure  yourself  of  that  is  to  travel  in  other  coim- 
tries  and  find  out  how  much  of  nobility  and  character  and 
fine  enterprise  there  is  everywhere  in  the  world.  The  most 
that  America  can  hope  to  do  i^^^ow,  it  may  be,  the  finest 
example,  not  the  only  exampIqJBBfefc  things  that  ought  to 
benefit  and  promote  the  progres^i^^&'yorld. 

So  my  interest  in  this  movement  ^a^  Inuch  an  interest  in 
ourselves  as  in  those  whom  we  are  trying  to  Americanize, 
because  if  we  are  genuine  Americans  they  cannot  avoid  the 
infection;  whereas,  if  we  are  not  genuine  Americans,  there 
will  be  nothing  to  infect  them  with,  and  no  amount  of  teach- 
ing, no  amount  of  exposition  of  the  Constitution, — which  I 
find  very  few  persons  understand, — no  amount  of  dwelling 
upon  the  idea  of  liberty  and  of  justice  will  accomplish  the 
object  we  have  in  view,  unless  we  ourselves  illustrate  the 
idea  of  justice  and  of  liberty.  My  interest  in  this  move- 
ment is,  therefore,  a  two-fold  interest.    I  believe  it  will  assist 


July  13]  LOYALTY  141 

us  to  become  self-conscious  in  respect  of  the  fundamental 
ideas  of  American  life.  When  you  ask  a  man  to  be  loyal  to  a 
government,  if  •he  comes  from  some  foreign  countries,  his 
idea  is  that  he  is  expected  to  be  loyal  to  a  certain  set  of  per- 
sons like  a  ruler  or  a  body  set  in  authority  over  him,  but 
that  is  not  the  American  idea.  Our  idea  is  that  he  is  to  be 
loyal  to  certain  objects  in  life,  and  that  the  only  reason  he 
has  a  President  and  a  Congress  and  a  Governor  and  a  State 
Legislature  and  courts  is  that  the  community  shall  have 
instrumentalities  by  which  to  promote  those  objects.  It  is  a 
cooperative  organization  expressing  itself  in  this  Constitu- 
tion, expressing  itself  in  these  laws,  intending  to  express 
itself  in  the  exposition  of  those  laws  by  the  courts;  and  the 
idea  of  America  is  not  so  much  that  men  are  to  be  restrained 
and  punished  by  the  law  as  instructed  and  guided  by  the  law. 
That  is  the  reason  so  many  hopeful  reforms  come  to  grief. 
A  law  cannot  work  until  it  expresses  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity for  which  it  is  enacted,  and  if  you  try  to  enact 
into  law  what  expresses  only  the  spirit  of  a  small  coterie  or 
of  a  small  minority,  you  know,  or  at  any  rate  you  ought  to 
know,  beforehand  that  it  is  not  going  to  work.  The  object 
of  the  law  is  that  there,  written  upon  these  pages,  the  citizen 
should  read  the  record  of  the  experience  of  this  state  and 
nation;  what  they  have  concluded  it  is  necessary  for  them 
to  do  because  of  the  life  they  have  lived  and  the  things 
that  they  have  discovered  to  be  elements  in  that  life.  So 
that  we  ought  to  be  careful  to  maintain  a  government  at 
which  the  immigrant  can  look  with  the  closest  scrutiny  and 
to  which  he  should  be  at  liberty  to  address  this  question: 
"You  declare  this  to  be  a  land  of  liberty  and  of  equality  and 
of  justice;  have  you  made  it  so  by  your  law?"  We  ought 
to  be  able  in  our  schools,  in  our  night  schools  and  in  every 
other  method  of  instructing  these  people,  to  show  them 
that  that  has  been  our  endeavor.  We  cannot  conceal  from 
them  long  the  fact  that  we  are  just  as  human  as  any  other 
nation,  that  we  are  just  as  selfish,  that  there  are  just  as  many 
mean  people  amongst  us  as  anywhere  else,  that  there  are  just 
as  many  people  here  who  want  to  take  advantage  of  other 
people  as  you  can  find  in  other  countries,  just  as  many  cruel 
people,  just  as  many  people  heartless  when  it  comes  to  main- 


142      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1916 

taining  and  promoting  their  own  interest;  but  you  can  show 
that  our  object  is  to  get  these  people  in  harness  and  see  to  it 
that  they  do  not  do  any  damage  and  are  not  allowed  to 
indulge  the  passions  which  would  bring  injustice  and  calam- 
ity at  last  upon  a  nation  whose  object  is  spiritual  and  not 
material. 

America  has  built  up  a  great  body  of  wealth.  America 
has  become,  from  the  physical  point  of  view,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  nations  in  the  world,  a  nation  which  if  it  took 
the  pains  to  do  so,  could  build  that  power  up  into  one  of 
the  most  formidable  instruments  in  the  world,  one  of  the 
most  formidable  instruments  of  force,  but  which  has  no  other 
idea  than  to  use  its  force  for  ideal  objects  and  not  for  self- 
aggrandizement. 

We  have  been  disturbed  recently,  my  fellow-citizens,  by 
certain  symptoms  which  have  showed  themselves  in  our  body 
politic.  Certain  men, — I  have  never  believed  a  great  num- 
ber,— ^born  in  other  lands,  have  in  recent  months  thought 
more  of  those  lands  than  they  have  of  the  honor  and  interest 
of  the  government  under  which  they  are  now  living.  They 
have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  draw  apart  in  spirit  and  in  organ- 
ization from  the  rest  of  us  to  accomplish  some  special  object 
of  their  own.  I  am  not  here  going  to  utter  any  criticism  of 
these  people,  but  I  want  to  say  this,  that  such  a  thing  as 
that  is  absolutely  incompatible  with  the  fundamental  idea  of 
loyalty,  and  that  loyalty  is  not  a  self-pleasing  virtue.  I  am 
not  bound  to  be  loyal  to  the  United  States  to  please  myself. 
I  am  bound  to  be  loyal  to  the  United  States  because  I  live 
under  its  lav^^s  and  am  its  citizen,  and  whether  it  hurts  me 
or  whether  it  benefits  me,  I  am  obliged  to  be  loyal.  Loyalty 
means  nothing  unless  it  has  at  its  heart  the  absolute  principle 
of  self-sacrifice.  Loyalty  means  that  you  ought  to  be  ready 
to  sacrifice  every  interest  that  you  have,  and  your  life  itself, 
if  your  country  calls  upon  you  to  do  so,  and  that  is  the  sort 
of  loyalty  which  ought  to  be  inculcated  into  these  newcomers, 
that  they  are  not  to  be  loyal  only  so  long  as  they  are  pleased, 
but  that,  having  once  entered  into  this  sacred  relationship, 
they  are  bound  to  be  loyal  whether  they  are  pleased  or  not; 
and  that  loyalty  v/hich  is  merely  self-pleasing  is  only  self- 
indulgence  and  selfishness.     No  man  has  ever  risen  to  the 


July  13]  LOYALTY  143 

real  stature  of  spiritual  manhood  until  he  has  found  that  it 
is  finer  to  serve  somebody  else  than  it  is  to  serve  himself. 

These  are  the  conceptions  which  we  ought  to  teach  the 
newcomers  into  our  midst,  and  we  ought  to  realize  that  the 
life  of  every  one  of  us  is  part  of  the  schooling,  and  that  we 
cannot  preach  loyalty  unless  we  set  the  example,  that  we 
cannot  profess  things  with  any  influence  upon  others  unless 
we  practice  them  also.  This  process  of  Americanization  is 
going  to  be  a  process  of  self-examination,  a  process  of  puri- 
fication, a  process  of  rededication  to  the  things  which  America 
represents  and  is  proud  to  represent.  And  it  takes  a  great 
deal  more  courage  and  steadfastness,  my  fellow-citizens,  to 
represent  ideal  things  than  to  represent  anything  else.  It  is 
easy  to  lose  your  temper,  and  hard  to  keep  it.  It  is  easy  to 
strike  and  sometimes  very  difficult  to  refrain  from  striking, 
and  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  we  are  most  justified 
in  being  proud  of  doing  the  things  that  are  hard  to  do  and 
not  the  things  that  are  easy.  You  do  not  settle  things 
quickly  by  taking  what  seems  to  be  the  quickest  way  to 
settle  them.  You  may  make  the  complication  just  that 
much  the  more  profound  and  inextricable,  and,  therefore, 
what  I  believe  America  should  exalt  above  everything  else  is 
the  sovereignty  of  thoughtfulness  and  sympathy  and  vision 
as  against  the  grosser  impulses  of  mankind.  No  nation  can 
live  without  vision,  and  no  vision  will  exalt  a  nation  except 
the  vision  of  real  liberty  and  real  justice  and  purity  of  con- 
duct. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


44.     AN  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  FOR  RAILROAD   MEN 

(August  29,   19 1 6) 

Address  to  Congress 

I  have  come  to  you  to  seek  your  assistance  in  dealing  with 
a  very  grave  situation  which  has  arisen  out  of  the  demand 
of  the  employees  of  the  railroads  engaged  in  freight  train 
service  that  they  be  granted  an  eight-hour  working  day, 


144      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [191 6 

safeguarded  by  payment  for  an  hour  and  a  half  of  service 
for  every  hour  of  work  beyond  the  eight. 

The  matter  has  been  agitated  for  more  than  a  year.  The 
public  has  been  made  familiar  with  the  demands  of  the  men 
and  the  arguments  urged  in  favor  of  them,  and  even  more 
familiar  with  the  objections  of  the  railroads  and  their  counter 
demand  that  certain  priviliges  now  enjoyed  by  their  men 
and  certain  bases  of  payment  worked  out  through  many  years 
of  contest  be  reconsidered,  especially  in  their  relation  to  the 
adoption  of  an  eight-hour  day.  The  matter  came  some  three 
weeks  ago  to  a  final  issue  and  resulted  in  a  complete  deadlock 
between  the  parties.  The  means  provided  by  law  for  the 
mediation  of  the  controversy  failed  and  the  means  of  arbitra- 
tion for  which  the  law  provides  were  rejected.  The  represen- 
tatives of  the  railway  executives  proposed  that  the  demands 
of  the  men  be  submitted  in  their  entirety  to  arbitration,  along 
with  certain  questions  of  readjustment  as  to  pay  and  condi- 
tions of  emplo)mient  which  seemed  to  them  to  be  either  closely 
associated  with  the  demands  or  to  call  for  reconsideration  on 
their  own  merits;  the  men  absolutely  declined  arbitration, 
especially  if  any  of  their  established  privileges  were  by  that 
means  to  be  drawn  again  in  question.  The  law  in  the  matter 
put  no  compulsion  upon  them.  The  four  hundred  thousand 
men  from  whom  the  demands  proceeded  had  voted  to  strike 
if  their  demands  were  refused;  the  strike  was  imminent;  it 
has  since  been  set  for  the  fourth  of  September  next.  It  affects 
the  men  who  man  the  freight  trains  on  practically  every  rail- 
way in  the  country.  The  freight  service  throughout  the 
United  States  must  stand  still  imtil  their  places  are  filled,  if, 
indeed,  it  should  prove  possible  to  fill  them  at  all.  Cities 
will  be  cut  off  from  their  food  supplies,  the  whole  commerce 
of  the  nation  will  be  paralyzed,  men  of  every  sort  and  occu- 
pation will  be  thrown  out  of  employment,  countless  thousands 
will  in  all  likelihood  be  brought,  it  may  be,  to  the  very  point 
of  starvation,  and  a  tragical  national  calamity  brought  on, 
to  be  added  to  the  other  distresses  of  the  time,  because  no 
basis  of  accommodation  or  settlement  has  been  foimd. 

Just  as  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  mediation  under 
the  existing  law  had  failed  and  that  arbitration  had  been 
rendered  impossible  by  the  attitude  of  the  men,  I  considered 


Ang.  29]     EIGHT  HOURS  FOR  RAILROAD  MEN    145 

it  my  duty  to  confer  with  the  representatives  of  both  the 
railways  and  the  brotherhoods,  and  myself  offer  mediation, 
not  as  an  arbitrator,  but  merely  as  spokesman  of  the  nation, 
in  the  interest  of  justice,  indeed,  and  as  a  friend  of  both 
parties,  but  not  as  judge,  only  as  the  representative  of  one 
hundred  millions  of  men,  women,  and  children  who  would 
pay  the  price,  the  incalculable  price,  of  loss  and  suffering 
should  these  few  men  insist  upon  approaching  and  concluding 
the  matters  in  controversy  between  them  merely  as  employers 
and  employees,  rather  than  as  patriotic  citizens  of  the  United 
States  looking  before  and  after  and  accepting  the  larger  re- 
sponsibility which  the  public  would  put  upon  them. 

It  seemed  to  me,  in  considering  the  subject-matter  of  the 
controversy,  that  the  whole  spirit  of  the  time  and  the  pre- 
ponderant evidence  of  recent  economic  experience  spoke  for 
the  eight-hour  day.  It  has  been  adjudged  by  the  thought  and 
experience  of  recent  years  a  thing  upon  which  society  is 
justified  in  insisting  as  in  the  interest  of  health,  efficiency, 
contentment,  and  a  general  increase  of  economic  vigor.  The 
whole  presumption  of  modem  experience  would,  it  seemed  to 
me,  be  in  its  favor,  whether  there  was  arbitration  or  not,  and 
the  debatable  points  to  settle  were  those  which  arose  out  of 
the  acceptance  of  the  eight-hour  day  rather  than  those  which 
affected  its  establishment.  I,  therefore,  proposed  that  the 
eight-hour  day  be  adopted  by  the  railway  managements  and 
put  into  practice  for  the  present  as  a  substitute  for  the  exist- 
ing ten-hour  basis  of  pay  and  service;  that  I  should  appoint, 
with  the  permission  of  the  Congress,  a  small  commission  to 
observe  the  results  of  the  change,  carefully  studying  the  fig- 
ures of  the  altered  operating  costs,  not  only,  but  also  the 
conditions  of  labor  under  which  the  men  worked  and  the 
operation  of  their  existing  agreements  with  the  railroads, 
with  instructions  to  report  the  facts  as  they  found  them  to 
the  Congress  at  the  earliest  possible  day,  but  without  recom- 
mendation ;  and  that,  after  the  facts  had  been  thus  disclosed, 
an  adjustment  should  in  some  orderly  manner  be  sought  of 
all  the  matters  now  left  unadjusted  between  the  railroad 
managers  and  the  men. 

These  proposals  were  exactly  in  line,  it  is  interesting  to 
note,  with  the  position  taken  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 


146      ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 

United  States  when  appealed  to  to  protect  certain  litigants 
from  the  financial  losses  which  they  confidently  expected  if 
they  should  submit  to  the  regulation  of  their  charges  and 
of  their  methods  of  service  by  public  legislation.  The  Court 
has  held  that  it  would  not  undertake  to  form  a  judgment  upon 
forecasts,  but  could  base  its  action  only  upon  actual  ex- 
perience; that  it  must  be  supplied  with  facts,  not  with  calcu- 
lations and  opinions,  however  scientifically  attempted.  To 
undertake  to  arbitrate  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  an 
eight-hour  day  in  the  lights  of  results  merely  estimated  and 
predicted  would  be  to  undertake  an  enterprise  of  conjecture. 
No  wise  man  could  undertake  it,  or,  if  he  did  imdertake  it, 
could  feel  assured  of  his  conclusions. 

I  unhesitatingly  offered  the  friendly  services  of  the  admin- 
istration to  the  railway  managers  to  see  to  it  that  justice 
was  done  the  railroads  in  the  outcome.  I  felt  warranted  in 
assuring  them  that  no  obstacle  of  law  would  be  suffered  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  their  increasing  their  revenues  to  meet 
the  expenses  resulting  from  the  change  Iso  far  as  the  develop- 
ment of  their  business  and  of  their  administrative  efficiency 
did  not  prove  adequate  to  meet  them.  The  public  and  the 
representatives  of  the  public,  I  felt  justified  in  assuring  them, 
were  disposed  to  nothing  but  justice  in  such*  cases  and  were 
willing  to  serve  those  who  served  them. 

The  representatives  of  the  brotherhoods  accepted  the  plan; 
but  the  representatives  of  the  railroads  declined  to  accept  it. 
In  the  face  of  what  I  cannot  but  regard  as  the  practical  cer- 
tainty that  they  will  be  ultimately  obliged  to  accept  the 
eight-hour  day  by  the  concerted  action  of  organized  labor, 
backed  by  the  favorable  judgment  of  society,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  railway  management  have  felt  justified  in  de- 
clining a  peaceful  settlement  which  would  engage  all  the 
forces  of  justice,  public  and  private,  on  their,  side  to  take 
care  of  the  event.  They  fear  the  hostile  influence  of  ship- 
pers, who  would  be  opposed  to  an  increase  of  freight  rates 
(for  which,  however,  of  course,  the  public  itself  would  pay) ; 
they  apparently  feel  no  confidence  that  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  could  withstand  the  objections  that  would 
be  made.  They  do  not  care  to  rely  upon  the  friendly  assur- 
ances of  the  Congress  or  the  President.    They  have  thought 


Aug.  29]     EIGHT  HOURS  FOR  RAILROAD  MEN    147 

it  best  that  they  should  be  forced  to  yield,  if  they  must  yield, 
not  by  counsel,  but  by  the  suffering  of  the  coimtry.  While 
my  conferences  with  tiiem  were  in  progress,  and  when  to  all 
outward  appearance  those  conferences  had  come  to  a  stand- 
still, the  representatives  of  the  brotherhoods  suddenly  acted 
and  set  the  strike  for  the  fourth  of  September. 

The  railway  managers  based  their  decision  to  reject  my 
counsel  in  this  matter  upon  their  conviction  that  they  must 
at  any  cost  to  themselves  or  to  the  country  stand  firm  for 
the  principle  of  arbitration  which  the  men  had  rejected.  I 
based  my  counsel  upon  the  indisputable  fact  that  there  was 
no  means  of  obtaining  arbitration.  The  law  supplied  none; 
earnest  efforts  at  mediation  had  failed  to  influence  the  men  in 
the  least.  To  stand  firm  for  the  principle  of  arbitration  and 
yet  not  get  arbitration  seemed  to  me  futile,  and  something 
more  than  futile,  because  it  involved  incalculable  distress  to 
the  country  and  consequences  in  some  resp)ects  worse  than 
those  of  war,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  peace. 

I  yield  to  no  man  in  firm  adherence,  alike  of  conviction 
and  of  purpose,  to  the  principle  of  arbitration  in  industrial 
disputes;  but  matters  have  come  to  a  sudden  crisis  in  this 
particular  dispute  and  the  country  had  been  caught  unpro- 
vided with  any  practicable  means  of  enforcing  that  conviction 
in  practice  (by  whose  fault  we  will  not  now  stop  to  inquire) . 
A  situation  had  to  be  met  whose  elements  and  fixed  condi- 
tions were  indisputable.  The  practical  and  patriotic  course 
to  pursue,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  was  to  secure  immediate  peace 
by  conceding  the  one  thing  in  the  demands  of  the  men  which 
society  itself  and  any  arbitrators  who  represented  public 
sentiment  were  most  likely  to  approve,  and  immediately  lay 
the  foundations  for  securing  arbitration  with  regard  to  every- 
thing else  involved.    The  event  has  confirmed  that  judgment. 

I  was  seeking  to  compose  the  present  in  order  to  safeguard 
the  future;  for  I  wished  an  atmosphere  of -peace  and  friendly 
cooperation  in  which  to  take  counsel  with  .the  representa- 
tives of  the  nation  with  regard  to  the  best  means  for  provid- 
ing, so  far  as  it  might  prove  possible  to  provide,  against  the 
recurrence  of  such  unhappy  situations  in  the  future, — the 
best  and  most  practicable  means  of  securing  calm  and  fair 
arbitration  of  all  industrial  disputes  in  the  davs  .to  come.. 


148      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 

This  is  assuredly  the  best  way  of  vindicating  a  principle, 
namely,  having  failed  to  make  certain  of  its  observance 
in  the  present,  to  make  certain  of  its  observance  in  the  fu- 
ture. 

But  I  could  only  propose.  I  could  not  govern  the  will  of 
others  who  took  an  entirely  different  view  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  who  even  refused  to  admit  the  circum- 
stances to  be  what  they  have  turned  out  to  be. 

Having  failed  to  bring  the  parties  to  this  critical  contro- 
versy to  an  accommodation,  therefore,  I  turn  to  you,  deeming 
it  clearly  our  duty  as  public  servants  to  leave  nothing  undone 
that  we  can  do  to  safeguard  the  life  and  interests  of  the 
nation.  In  the  spirit  of  such  a  purpose,  I  earnestly  recom- 
mend the  following  legislation: 

First,  immediate  provision  for  the  enlargement  and  admin- 
istrative reorganizaton  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion along  the  lines  embodied  in  the  bill  recently  passed  by 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  now  awaiting  action  by 
the  Senate;  in  order  that  the  Commission  may  be  enabled 
to  deal  with  the  many  great  and  various  duties  now  devolving 
upon  it  with  a  promptness  and  thoroughness  which  are  with 
its  present  constitution  and  means  of  action  practically  im- 
possible. 

Second,  the  establishment  of  an  eight-hour  day  as  the  legal 
basis  alike  of  work  and  of  wages  in  the  employment  of  all 
railway  employees  who  are  actually  engaged  in  the  work  of 
operating  trains  in  interstate  transportation. 

Third,  the  authorization  of  the  appointment  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  a  small  body  of  men  to  observe  the  actual  results  in 
experience  of  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour  day  in  railway 
transportation  alike  for  the  men  and  for  the  railroads;  its 
effects  in  the  matter  of  operating  costs,  in  the  application  of 
the  existing  practices  and  agreements  to  the  new  conditions, 
and  in  all  other  practical  aspects,  with  the  provision  that  the 
investigators  shall  report  their  conclusions  to  the  Congress  at 
the  earliest  possible  date,  but  without  recommendation  as 
to  legislative  action ;  in  order  that  the  public  may  learn  from 
an  unprejudiced  source  just  what  actual  developments  have 
ensued. 

Fourth,  explicit  approval  by  the  Congress  of  the  consider- 


Aug.  29]    EIGHT  HOURS  FOR  RAILROAD.  MEN    149 

ation  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  of  an  increase 
of  freight  rates  to  meet  such  additional  expenditures  by  the 
railroads  as  may  have  been  rendered  necessary  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  eight-hour  day  and  which  have  not  been  offset 
by  administrative  readjustments  and  economies,  should  the 
facts  disclosed  justify  the  increase. 

Fifth,  an  amendment  of  the  existing  federal  statute  which 
provides  for  the  mediation,  conciliation,  and  arbitration  of 
such  controversies  as  the  present  by  adding  to  it  a  provision 
that  in  case  the  methods  of  accommodation  now  provided 
for  should  fail,  a  full  public  investigation  of  the  merits  of 
every  such  dispute  shall  be  instituted  and  completed  before 
a  strike  or  lockout  may  lawfully  be  attempted. 

And,  sixth,  the  lodgment  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  of 
the  power,  in  case  of  military  necessity,  to  take  control  of 
such  portions  and  such  rolling  stock  of  the  railways  of  the 
country  as  may  be  required  for  military  use  and  to  operate 
them  for  military  purposes,  with  authority  to  draft  into  the 
military  service  of  the  United  States  such  train  crews  and 
administrative  officials  as  the  circumstances  require  for  their 
safe  and  efficient  use. 

This  last  suggestion  I  make  because  we  cannot  in  any 
circumstances  suffer  the  nation  to  be  hampered  in  the  essen- 
tial matter  of  national  defense.  At  the  present  moment  cir- 
cumstances render  this  duty  particularly  obvious.  Almost 
the  entire  military  force  of  the  nation  is  stationed  upon  the 
Mexican  border  to  guard  our  territory  against  hostile  raids. 
It  must  be  supplied,  and  steadily  supplied,  with  whatever  it 
needs  for  its  maintenance  and  efficiency.  If  it  should  be 
necessary  for  purposes  of  national  defense  to  transfer  any 
portion  of  it  upon  short  notice  to  some  other  part  of  the 
country,  for  reasons  now  unforeseen,  ample  means  of  trans- 
portation must  be  available,  and  available  without  delay. 
The  power  confessed  in  this  matter  should  be  carefully  and 
explicitly  limited  to  cases  of  military  necessity,  but  in  all 
such  cases  it  should  be  cleam  and  ample. 

There  is  one  other  thing  we  should  do  if  we  are  true  cham> 
pions  of  arbitration.  We  should  make  all  arbitral  awards 
judgments  by  record  of  a  court  of  law  in  order  that  their 
interpretation  and  enforcement  may  lie,  not  with  one  of  the 


150      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

parties  to  the  arbitration,  but  with  an  impartial  and  authori- 
tative tribunal. 

These  things  I  urge  upon  you,  not  in  haste  or  merely  as  a 
means  of  meeting  a  present  emergency,  but  as  permanent 
and  necessary  additions  to  the  law  of  the  land,  suggested, 
indeed,  by  circumstances  we  had  hoped  never  to  see,  but  im- 
perative as  well  as  just,  if  such  emergencies  are  to  be  pre- 
vented in  the  future.  I  feel  that  no  extended  argument  is 
needed  to  commend  them  to  your  favorable  consideration. 
They  demonstrate  themselves.  The  time  and  the  occasion 
only  give  emphasis  to  their  importance.  We  need  them  now 
and  we  shall  continue  to  need  them. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


45.    ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

(September  4,  19 16) 

Address  at  the  Lincoln  Birthplace  Farm,  at  Hodgen- 

VILLE 

No  more  significant  memorial  could  have  been  presented 
to  the  nation  than  this.  It  expresses  so  much  of  what  is 
singular  and  noteworthy  in  the  history  of  the  country;  it 
suggests  so  many  of  the  things  that  we  prize  most  highly  in 
our  life  and  in  our  system  of  government.  How  eloquent  this 
little  house  within  this  shrine  is  of  the  vigor  of  democracy! 
There  is  nov/here  in  the  land  any  home  so  remote,  so  humble, 
that  it  may  not  contain  the  power  of  mind  and  heart  and 
conscience  to  which  nations  yield  and  history  submits  its 
processes.  Nature  pays  no  tribute  to  aristocracy,  subscribes 
to  no  creed  of  caste,  renders  fealty  to  no  monarch  or  master 
of  any  name  or  kind.  Genius  is  no  snob.  It  does  not  run 
after  titles  or  seek  by  preference  the  high  circles  of  society. 
It  affects  humble  company  as  well  as  great.  It  pays  no  spe- 
cial tribute  to  universities  or  learned  societies  or  conventional 
standards  of  greatness,  but  serenely  chooses  its  own  com- 
rades, its  own  haunts,  its  own  cradle  even,  and  its  own  life 
of  adventure  and  of  training.    Here  is  proof  of  it.    This  little 


Sept.  4]  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  151 

hut  was  the  cradle  of  one  of  the  great  sons  of  men,  a  man  of 
singular,  delightful,  vital  genius  who  presently  emerged  upon 
the  great  stage  of  the  nation's  history,  gaunt,  shy,  ungainly, 
but  dominant  and  majestic,  a  natural  ruler  of  men,  himself 
inevitably  the  central  figure  of  the  great  plot.  No  man  can 
explain  this,  but  every  man  can  see  how  it  demonstrates  the 
vigor  of  democracy,  where  every  door  is  open,  in  every  hamlet 
and  countryside,  in  city  and  wilderness  alike,  for  the  ruler 
to  emerge  when  he  will  and  claim  his  leadership  in  the  free 
life.  Such  are  the  authentic  proofs  of  the  validity  and  vital- 
ity of  democracy. 

Here,  no  less,  hides  the  mystery  of  democracy.  Who  shall 
guess  this  secret  of  nature  and  providence  and  a  free  polity? 
Whatever  the  vigor  and  vitality  of  the  stock  from  which  he 
sprang,  its  mere  vigor  and  soundness  do  not  explain  where 
this  man  got  his  great  heart  that  seemed  to  comprehend  all 
mankind  in  its  catholic  and  benignant  sympathy,  the  mind 
that  sat  enthroned  behind  those  brooding,  melancholy  eyes, 
whose  vision  swept  many  an  horizon  which  those  about  him 
dreamed  not  of, — that  mind  that  comprehended  what  it  had 
never  seen,  and  understood  the  language  of  affairs  with  the 
ready  ease  of  one  to  the  manner  bom, — or  that  nature  which 
seemed  in  its  varied  richness  to  be  the  familiar  of  men  of 
every  way  of  life.  This  is  the  sacred  mystery  of  democ- 
racy, that  its  richest  fruits  spring  up  out  of  soils  which  no 
man  has  prepared  and  in  circumstances  amidst  which  they 
are  the  least  experienced.  This  is  a  place  alike  of  mystery 
and  of  reassurance. 

It  is  likely  that  in  a  society  ordered  otherwise  than  our 
own  Lincoln  could  not  have  found  himself  or  the  path  of 
fame  and  power  upon  which  he  walked  serenely  to  his  death. 
In  this  place  it  is  right  that  we  should  remind  ourselves  of 
the  solid  and  striking  facts  upon  which  our  faith  in  democ- 
racy is  founded.  Many  another  man  besides  Lincoln  has 
served  the  nation  in  its  highest  places  of  counsel  and  of 
action  whose  origins  were  as  humble  as  his.  Though  the 
greatest  example  of  the  universal  energy,  richness,  stimula- 
tion, and  force  of  democracy,  he  is  only  one  example  among 
many.  The  permeating  and  all-pervasive  virtue  of  the  free- 
dom which  diallenges  us  in  America  to  make  the  most  of 


152      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [191 6 

every  gift  and  power  we  possess  every  page  of  our  history 
serves  to  emphasize  and  illustrate.  Standing  here  in  this 
place,  it  seems  almost  the  whole  of  the  stirring  story. 

Here  Lincoln  had  his  beginnings.  Here  the  end  and  con- 
summation of  that  great  life  seem  remote  and  a  bit  incredible. 
And  yet  there  was  no  break  an3rwhere  between  beginning  and 
end,  no  lack  of  natural  sequence  anywhere.  Nothing  really 
incredible  happened.  Lincoln  was  unaffectedly  as  much  at 
home  in  the  White  House  as  he  was  here.  Do  you  share  with 
me  the  feeling,  I  wonder,  that  he  was  permanently  at  home 
nowhere?  It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  case  of  a  man, — I 
would  rather  say  of  a  spirit, — ^like  Lincoln  the  question  where 
he  was  is  of  little  significance,  that  it  is  always  what  he  was 
that  really  arrests  our  thought  and  takes  hold  of  our  imagina- 
tion. It  is  the  spirit  always  that  is  sovereign.  Lincoln,  like 
the  rest  of  us,  was  put  through  the  discipline  of  the  world, — 
a  very  rough  and  exacting  discipline)  for  him,  an  indispen- 
sable discipline  for  every  man  who  would  know  what  he  is 
about  in  the  midst  of  the  world's  affairs;  but  his  spirit  got 
only  its  schooling  there.  It  did  not  derive  its  character  or 
its  vision  from  the  experiences  which  brought  it  to  its  full 
revelation.  The  test  of  every  American  must  always  be,  not 
where  he  is,  but  what  he  is.  That,  also,  is  of  the  essence  of 
democracy,  and  is  the  moral  of  which  this  place  is  most 
gravely  expressive. 

We  would  like  to  think  of  men  like  Lincoln  and  Washing- 
ton as  typical  Americans,  but  no  man  can  be  typical  who  is 
so  unusual  as  these  great  men  were.  It  was  typical  of  Amer- 
ican life  that  it  should  produce  such  men  with  supreme  in- 
difference as  to  the  manner  in  which  it  produced  Uiem,  and 
as  readily  here  in  this  hut  as  amidst  the  little  circle  of  culti- 
vated gentlemen  to  whom  Virginia  owed  so  much  in  leader- 
ship and  example.  And  Lincoln  and  Washington  were  typical 
Americans  in  the  use  they  made  of  their  genius.  But  there 
will  be  few  such  men  at  best,  and  we  will  not  look  into  the 
mystery  of  how  and  why  they  come.  We  will  only  keep 
the  door  open  for  them  always,  and  a  hearty  welcome. — 
after  we  have  recognized  them. 

I  have  read  many  biographies  of  Lincoln;  I  have  sought 
out  with  the  greatest  interest  the  many  intimate  stories  that 


Sept.  4]  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  153 

are  told  of  him,  the  narratives  of  nearby  friends,  the  sketches 
at  close  quarters,  in  which  those  who  had  the  privilege  of 
being  associated  with  him  have  tried  to  depict  for  us  the  very 
man  himself  "in  his  habit  as  he  lived;"  but  I  have  nowhere 
found  a  real  intimate  of  Lincoln's.  I  nowhere  get  the  im- 
pression in  any  narrative  or  reminiscence  that  the  writer 
had  in  fact  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  his  mystery,  or  that 
any  man  could  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  it.  That  brooding 
spirit  had  on  real  familiars.  I  get  the  impression  that  it  never 
spoke  out  in  complete  self-revelation,  and  that  it  could  not 
reveal  itself  completely  to  anyone.  It  was  a  very  lonely 
spirit  that  looked  out  from  imderneath  those  shaggy  brows 
and  comprehended  men  without  fully  communing  with  them, 
as  if,  in  spite  of  all  its  genial  efforts  at  comradeship,  it  dwelt 
apart,  saw  its  visions  of  duty  where  no  man  looked  on. 
There  is  a  very  holy  and  very  terrible  isolation  for  the  con- 
science of  every  man  who  seeks  to  read  the  destiny  in  affairs 
for  others  as  well  as  for  himself,  for  a  nation  as  well  as  for 
individuals.  That  privacy  no  man  can  intrude  upon.  That 
lonely  search  of  the  spirit  for  the  right  perhaps  no  man  can 
assist.  This  strange  child  of  the  cabin  kept  company  with 
invisible  things,  was  bom  into  no  intimacy  but  that  of  its 
own  silently  assembling  and  deploying  thoughts. 

I  have  come  here  today,  not  to  utter  an  eulogy  on  Lincoln ; 
he  stands  in  need  of  none,  but  to  endeavor  to  interpret  the 
meaning  of  this  gift  to  the  nation  of  the  place  of  his  birth 
and  origin.  Is  not  this  an  altar  upon  which  we  may  forever 
keep  alive  the  vestal  fire  of  democracy  as  upon  a  shrine  at 
which  some  of  the  deepest  and  most  sacred  hopes  of  man- 
kind may  from  age  to  age  be  rekindled?  For  these  hopes 
must  constantly  be  rekindled,  and  only  those  who  live  can 
rekindle  them.  The  only  stufjf  that  can  retain  the  life-giving 
heat  is  the  stuff  of  living  hearts.  And  the  hopes  of  mankind 
cannot  be  kept  alive  by  words  merely,  by  constitutions  and 
doctrines  of  right  and  codes  of  liberty.  The  object  of  democ- 
racy is  to  translate  these  into  the  life  and  action  of  society, 
the  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  of  heroic  men  and  women 
willing  to  make  their  lives  an  embodiment  of  right  and  serv- 
ice and  enlightened  purpose.  The  commands  of  democracy 
are  as  imperative  as  its  privileges  and  opportunities  are  wide 


154      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON    [1916 

and  generous.  Its  compulson  is  upon  us.  It  will  be  great 
and  lift  a  great  light  for  the  guidance  of  the  nations  only  if 
we  are  great  and  carry  that  light  high  for  the  guidance  of 
our  own  feet.  We  are  not  worthy  to  stand  here  unless  we 
ourselves  be  in  deed  and  in  truth  real  democrats  and  servants 
of  mankind,  ready  to  give  our  very  lives  for  the  freedom  and 
justice  and  spiritual  exaltation  of  the  great  nation  which 
shelters  and  nurtures  us. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


46.    THE  FORCES  OF  FREEDOM 

(September  8,  19 16) 
Address  at  Suffrage  Convention,  Atlantic  City 

I  have  found  it  a  real  privilege  to  be  here  to-night  and  to 
listen  to  the  addresses  which  you  have  heard.  Though  you 
may  not  all  of  you  believe  it,  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  hear 
somebody  else  speak  than  speak  myself;  but  I  should  feel 
that  I  was  omitting  a  duty  if  I  did  not  address  you  to-night 
and  say  some  of  the  things  that  have  been  in  my  thought  as 
I  realized  the  approach  of  this  evening  and  the  duty  that 
would  fall  upon  me. 

The  astonishing  thing  about  the  movement  which  you 
represent  is,  not  that  it  has  grown  so  slowly,  but  that  it  has 
grown  so  rapidly.  No  doubt  for  those  who  have  been  a  long 
time  in  the  struggle,  like  your  honored  president,  it  seems 
a  long  and  arduous  path  that  has  been  trodden,  but  when  you 
think  of  the  cumulative  force  of  this  movement  in  recent 
decades,  you  must  agree  with  me  that  it  is  one  of  the  most 
astonishing  tides  in  modem  history.  Two  generations  ago, 
no  doubt  Madam  President  will  agree  with  me  in  saying,  it 
was  a  handful  of  women  who  were  fighting  this  cause.  Now 
it  is  a  great  multitude  of  women  who  are  fighting  it. 

And  there  are  some  interesting  historical  connections  which 
I  would  like  to  attempt  to  point  out  to  you.  One  of  the  most 
striking  facts  about  the  history  of  the  United  States  is  that 


Sept.  8]        THE  FORCES  OF  FREEDOM  155 

at  the  outset  it  was  a  lawyers'  history.  Almost  all  of  the 
questions  to  which  America  addressed  itself,  say  a  hundred 
years  ago,  were  legal  questions,  were  questions  of  method, 
not  questions  of  what  you  were  going  to  do  with  your  Gov- 
ernment, but  questions  of  how  you  were  going  to  constitute 
your  Government, — ^how  you  were  going  to  balance  the  powers 
of  the  States  and  the  Federal  Government,  how  you  were 
going  to  balance  the  claims  of  property  against  the  processes 
of  liberty,  how  you  were  going  to  make  your  governments 
up  so  as  to  balance  the  parts  against  each  other  so  that  the 
legislature  would  check  the  executive,  and  the  executive  the 
legislature,  and  the  courts  both  of  them  put  together.  The 
whole  conception  of  government  when  the  United  States  be- 
came a  Nation  was  a  mechanical  conception  of  government, 
and  the  mechanical  conception  of  government  which  underlay 
it  was  the  Newtonian  theory  of  the  universe.  If  you  pick  up 
the  Federalist,  some  parts  of  it  read  like  a  treatise  on  astron- 
omy  instead  of  a  treatise  on  government.  They  speak  of  the 
centrifugal  and  the  centripital  forces,  and  locate  the  Presi- 
dent somewhere  in  a  rotating  system.  The  whole  thing  is  a 
calculation  of  power  and  an  adjustment  of  parts.  There  was 
a  time  when  nobody  but  a  lawyer  could  know  enough  to  run 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  a  distinguished 
English  publicist  once  remarked,  speaking  of  the  complexity 
of  the  American  Government,  that  it  was  no  proof  of  the 
excellence  of  the  American  Constitution  that  it  had  been 
successfully  operated,  because  the  Americans  could  run  any 
constitution.  But  there  have  been  a  great  many  technical 
difficulties  in  running  it. 

And  then  something  happened.  A  great  question  arose 
in  this  country  v^hich,  though  complicated  with  legal  ele- 
ments, was  at  bottom  a  human  question,  and  nothing  but  a 
question  of  humanity.  That  was  the  slavery  question.  And 
is  it  not  significant  that  it  was  then,  and  then  for  the  first 
time,  that  women  became  prominent  in  politics  in  America? 
Not  many  women;  those  prominent  in  that  day  were  so  few 
that  you  can  name  them  over  in  a  brief  catalogue,  but,  never- 
theless, they  then  began  to  play  a  part  in  wTiting,  not  only, 
but  in  public  speech,  which  was  a  very  novel  part  for  women 


iS6    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1916 

to  play  in  America.    After  the  Civil  War  had  settled  some 
of  what  seemed  to  be  the  most  difficult  legal  questions  of  our 
system,  the  life  of  the  Nation  began  not  only  to  unfold,  but 
to  accumulate.    Life  in  the  United  States  was  a  compara- 
tively simple  matter  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War.    There 
was  none  of  that  underground  struggle  which  is  now  so 
manifest  to  those  who  look  only  a  little  way  beneath  the  sur- 
face.    Stories  such  as  Dr.  Davis  has  told  to-night  were 
uncommon  in  those  simpler  days.     The  pressure  of  low 
wages,  the  agony  of  obscure  and  unremunerated  toil,  did 
not  exist  in  America  in  anything  like  the  same  proportions 
that  they  exist  now.     And  as  our  life  has  unfolded  and 
accumulated,  as  the  contacts  of  it  have  become  hot,  as  the 
populations  have  assembled  in  the  cities,  and  the  cool  spaces 
of  the  country  have  been  supplanted  by  the  feverish  urban 
areas,  the  whole  nature  of  our  political  questions  has  been 
altered.    They  have  ceased  to  be  legal  questions.    They  have 
more  and  more  become  social  questions,  questions  with  re- 
gard to  the  relations  of  human  beings  to  one  another, — not 
merely  their  legal  relations,  but  their  moral  and  spiritual 
relations  to  one  another.    This  has  been  most  characteristic 
of  American  life  in  the  last  few  decades,  and  as  these  ques- 
tions have  assumed  greater  and  greater  prominence,   the 
movement  which  this  association  represents  has  gathered 
cumulative  force.    So  that,  if  anybody  asks  himself,  "What 
does  this  gathering  force  mean,"  if  he  knows  anything  about 
the  history  of  the  country,  he  knows  that  it  means  something 
that  has  not  only  come  to  stay,  but  has  come  with  conquering 
power. 

I  get  a  little  impatient  sometimes  about  the  discussion  of 
the  channels  and  methods  by  which  it  is  to  prevail.  It  is 
going  to  prevail,  and  that  is  a  very  superficial  and  ignorant 
view  of  it  which  attributes  it  to  mere  social  unrest.  It  is 
not  merely  because  the  women  are  discontented.  It  is  be- 
cause the  women  have  seen  visions  of  duty,  and  that  is 
something  which  we  not  only  can  not  resist,  but,  if  we  be 
true  Americans,  we  do  not  wish  to  resist.  America  took  its 
origin  in  visions  of  the  human  spirit,  in  aspirations  for  the 
deepest  sort  of  liberty  of  the  mind  and  of  the  heart,  and  as 
visions  of  that  sort  come  up  to  the  sight  of  those  who  are 


Sept.  8]        THE  FORCES  OF  FREEDOM  157 

spiritually  minded  in  America,  America  comes  more  and 
more  into  her  birthright  and  into  the  perfection  of  her  de- 
velopment. 

So  that  what  we  have  to  realize  in  dealing  with  forces  of 
this  sort  is  that  we  are  dealing  with  the  substance  of  life 
itself.  I  have  felt  as  I  sat  here  to-night  the  wholesome  con- 
tagion of  the  occasion.  Almost  ever/  other  time  that  I  ever 
visited  Atlantic  City,  I  came  to  fight  somebody.  I  hardly 
know  how  to  conduct  myself  when  I  have  not  come  to  fight 
against  anybody,  but  with  somebody.  I  have  come  to  sug- 
gest, among  other  things,  that  when  the  forces  of  nature 
are  steadily  working  and  the  tide  is  rising  to  meet  the  moon, 
you  need  not  be  afraid  that  it  will  not  come  to  its  flood. 
We  feel  the  tide;  we  rejoice  in  the  strength  of  it;  and  we 
shall  not  quarrel  in  the  long  run  as  to  the  method  of  it. 
Because,  when  you  are  working  with  masses  of  men  and 
organized  bodies  of  opinion,  you  have  got  to  carry  the  organ- 
ized body  along.  The  whole  art  and  practice  of  government 
consists,  not  in  moving  individuals,  but  in  moving  masses. 
It  is  all  very  well  to  run  ahead  and  beckon,  but,  after  all, 
you  have  got  to  wait  for  the  body  to  follow.  I  have  not  come 
to  ask  you  to  be  patient,  because  you  have  been,  but  I  have 
come  to  congratulate  you  that  there  was  a  force  behind  you 
that  will  beyond  any  peradventure  be  triumphant,  and  for 
which  you  can  afford  a  little  while  to  wait. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


47.    WORLD  BUSINESS  OF  AMERICA 

(September  25,  19 16) 

Address  to  the  Grain  Dealers'  Association,  at 
Baltimore 

*  *  *  I  have  come  to  discuss  the  general  relation  of  the 
United  States  to  the  business  of  the  world  in  the  decades 
immediately  ahead  of  us.  We  have  swung  out,  my  fellow 
citizens,  into  a  new  business  e:-'^.  in  America.  I  suppose  that 
there  is  no  man  connected  with  ycur  association  who  does 


158     ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1916 

not  remember  the  time  when  the  whole  emphasis  of  Ameri- 
can business  discussion  was  laid  upon  the  domestic  market. 
I  need  not  remind  you  how  recently  it  has  happened  that  our 
attention  has  been  extended  to  the  markets  of  the  world; 
much  less  recently,  I  need  not  say,  in  the  matters  with  which 
you  are  concerned  than  in  the  other  export  interests  of  the 
country.  But  it  happened  that  American  production,  not 
only  in  the  agricultural  field  and  in  mining  and  in  all  the 
natural  products  of  the  earth,  but  also  in  manufacture,  in- 
creased in  recent  years  to  such  a  volume  that  American  busi- 
ness burst  its  jacket.  It  could  not  any  longer  be  taken  care 
of  within  the  field  of  the  domestic  markets;  and  when  that 
began  to  disclose  itself  as  the  situation,  we  also  became  aware 
that  American  business  men  had  not  studied  foreign  mar- 
kets, that  they  did  not  know  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
and  that  they  did  not  have  the  ships  in  which  to  take  their 
proportionate  part  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world;  that 
our  merchant  marine  had  sunk  to  a  negligible  amount,  and 
that  it  had  sunk  to  its  lowest  at  the  very  time  when  the  tide 
of  our  exports  began  to  grow  in  most  formidable  volume. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  circumstances  of  our  business 
history  is  this:  The  banking  laws  of  the  United  States, — I 
mean  the  Federal  banking  laws, — did  not  put  the  national 
banks  in  a  position  to  do  foreign  exchange  under  favorable 
conditions,  and  it  was  actually  true  that  private  banks,  and 
sometimes  branch  banks  drawn  out  of  other  countries,  notably 
out  of  Canada,  were  established  at  our  chief  ports  to  do  what 
American  bankers  ought  to  have  done.  It  was  as  if  America 
was  not  only  unaccustomed  to  touching  all  the  nerves  of  the 
world's  business,  but  was  disinclined  to  touch  them,  and  had 
not  prepared  the  instrumentality  by  which  it  might  take  part 
in  the  great  commerce  of  the  round  globe.  Only  in  very 
recent  years  have  we  been  even  studying  the  problem  of 
providing  ourselves  with  the  instrumentalities.  Not  until 
the  recent  legislation  of  Congress  known  as  the  Federal  re- 
serve act  were  the  Federal  banks  of  this  country  given  the 
proper  equipment  through  which  they  could  assist  American 
commerce,  not  only  in  our  own  country,  but  in  any  part 
of  the  world  where  they  chose  to  set  up  branch  institutions. 
British  banks  had  been  servingi  British  merchants  all  over 


Sept.  25]     WORLD  BUSINESS  OF  AMERICA  159 

the  world,  German  banks  had  been  serving  German  mer- 
chants all  over  the  world,  and  no  national  bank  of  the  United 
States  had  been  serving  American  merchants  anywhere  in 
the  world  except  in  the  United  States.  We  had,  as  it  were, 
deliberately  refrained  from  playing  our  part  in  the  field  in 
which  we  prided  ourselves  that  we  were  most  ambitious  and 
most  expert,  the  field  of  manufacture  and  of  commerce.  All 
that  is  past,  and  the  scene  has  been  changed  by  the  events 
of  the  last  two  years,  almost  suddenly,  and  with  a  complete- 
ness that  almost  daunts  the  planning  mind.  Not  only  when 
this  war  is  over,  but  now,  America  has  her  place  in  the  world 
and  must  take  her  place  in  the  world  of  finance  and  com- 
merce upon  a  scale  that  she  never  dreamed  of  before. 

My  dream  is  that  she  will  take  her  place  in  that  great  field 
in  a  new  spirit  which  the  world  has  never  seen  before;  not  the 
spirit  of  those  who  would  exclude  others,  but  the  spirit  of 
those  who  would  excel  others.  I  want  to  see  America  pitted 
against  the  world,  not  in  selfishness,  but  in  brains.  The  first 
thing  that  brains  have  to  feed  upon  is  knowledge,  and  when 
I  hear  men  proposing  to  deal  with  the  business  problems  of 
the  United  States  in  the  future  as  we  dealt  with  them  in  the 
past,  I  do  not  have  to  inquire  any  further  whether  they  are 
equipped  with  knowledge.  I  dismiss  them  from  the  reckon- 
ing, because  I  know  that  the  facts  are  going  to  dominate 
and  they  know  nothing  about  the  facts.  And  the  most  that 
we  can  supply  ourselves  with  just  now  is,  not  the  detailed 
program  of  policy,  but  the  instrumentalities  of  gaining  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  what  we  are  about.  Every  man  of  us 
must  for  some  time  to  come  be  "from  Missouri!"  We  must 
want  to  know  what  the  facts  are,  and  when  we  know  what 
the  facts  are  we  shall  know  what  the  policy  ought  to  be.  *  *  * 

*  *  *  It  has  always  been  a  iiction, — I  don't  know  who  in- 
vented it  or  why  he  invented  it, — that  there  was  a  contest 
between  the  law  and  business.  There  has  always  been  a 
contest  in  every  government  between  the  law  and  bad  busi- 
ness, and  I  do  not  want  to  see  that  contest  softened  in  any 
way;  but  there  has  never  been  any  contest  between  men  who 
intended  the  right  thing  and  the  men  who  administered  the 
law.  *  *  * 

You  know  that  we  have  just  now  done  what  it  was  common 


i6o    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191 6 

sense  to  do  about  the  tariff.  We  have  not  put  this  into 
words,  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  put  it  into  words:  We  have 
admitted  that  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other  we  were 
talking  theories  and  managing  policies  without  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  the  facts  upon  which  we  were  acting,  and, 
therefore,  we  have  established  what  is  intended  to  be  a  non- 
partisan tariff  commission  to  study  the  conditions  with  which 
legislation  has  to  deal  in  the  matter  of  the  relations  of  Amer- 
ican with  foreign  business  transactions.  Another  eye  created 
to  see  the  facts!  And  I  am  hopeful  that  I  can  find  the  men 
who  will  see  the  facts  and  state  them,  no  matter  whose 
opinion  those  facts  contradict.  For  an  opinion  ought  always 
to  have  a  profound  respect  for  a  fact;  and  when  you  once 
get  the  facts,  opinions  that  are  antagonistic  to  those  facts 
are  necessarily  defeated.  I  have  never  found  a  really  cour- 
ageous man  who  was  afraid  to  put  his  opinion  to  tiie  test 
of  facts,  or  a  morally  sincere  man  who  was  not  ready  to  sur- 
render to  the  facts  when  they  were  contrary  to  his  opinion. 
The  Tariff  Commission  is  going  to  look  for  the  facts  no 
matter  who  is  hurt.  We  are  creating  one  after  another  the 
instrumentalities  of  knowledge,  so  that  the  business  men  of 
this  country  shall  know  what  the  field  of  the  world's  business 
is  and  deal  with  that  field  upon  that  knowledge. 

Then,  when  the  knowledge  is  obtained,  what  are  we  going 
to  do?  One  of  the  things  that  interests  me  most  about  an 
association  of  this  sort  is  that  the  intention  of  it  is  that  the 
members  should  share  a  common  body  of  information,  and 
that  they  should  concert  among  themselves  those  operations 
of  business  which  are  beneficial  to  all  of  them;  that,  instead 
of  a  large  number  of  dealers  in  grain  acting  separately  and 
each  fighting  for  his  own  hand,  you  are  willing  to  come  to- 
gether and  study  the  problem  as  if  you  were  partners  and 
brothers  and  co-operators  in  this  field  of  business.  That  has 
been  going  on  in  every  occupation  in  the  United  States  of 
any  consequence.  Even  the  men  that  do  the  advertising  have 
been  getting  together,  and  they  have  made  this  startling  and 
fundamental  discovery,  that  the  only  way  to  advertise  suc- 
cessfully is  to  tell  the  truth.  There  are  many  reasons  for 
that.  One  of  the  chief  reasons  is  that  when  you  get  found 
out,  it  is  worse  for  you  ihan  it  was  before;  but  the  great 


Sept.  2  5]     WORLD  BUSINESS  OF  AMERICA  i6i 

reason,  the  sober  reason,  is  that  business  must  be  founded  on 
the  truth,  and  you  men  get  together  in  order  to  create  a 
clearing  house  for  the  truth  about  your  business. 

Very  well ;  that  is  a  picture  in  small  of  what  we  must  do  in 
the  large.  We  must  cooperate  in  the  whole  field  of  busi- 
ness, the  Government  with  the  merchant,  the  merchant  with 
his  employee,  the  whole  body  of  producers  with  the  whole 
body  of  consumers,  to  see  that  the  right  things  are  produced 
in  the  right  volume  and  find  the  right  purchasers  at  the  right 
place,  and  that,  all  working  together,  we  realize  that  nothing 
can  be  for  the  individual  benefit  which  is  not  for  the  common 
benefit.  *  *  * 

And  it  is  absolutely  necessary  now  to  make  good  our  new 
connections.  Our  new  connections  are  with  the  great  ancf 
rich  Republics  to  the  south  of  us.  For  the  first  time  in  my 
recollection  they  are  beginning  to  trust  and  believe  in  us  and 
want  us,  and  one  of  my  chief  concerns  has  been  to  see  that 
nothing  was  done  that  did  not  show  friendship  and  good  faith 
on  our  part.  You  know  that  it  used  to  be  the  case  that  if 
you  wanted  to  travel  comfortably  in  your  own  person  from 
New  York  to  a  South  American  port,  you  had  to  go  by  way 
of  England  or  else  stow  yourself  away  in  some  uncomfortable 
fashion  in  a  ship  that  took  almost  as  long  to  go  straight,  and 
within  whose  bowels  you  got  in  such  a  temper  before  you  got 
there  that  you  did  not  care  whether  she  got  there  or  not.  The 
great  interesting  geographical  fact  to  me  is  that  by  the  open- 
ing of  the  Panama  Canal  there  is  a  straight  line  south  from 
New  York  through  the  canal  to  the  western  coast  of  South 
America,  which  hitherto  has  been  one  of  the  most  remote 
coasts  in  the  world  so  far  as  we  are  concerned.  The  west 
coast  of  South  America  is  now  nearer  to  us  than  the  eastern 
coast  of  South  America  ever  was,  though  we  have  the  open 
Atlantic  upon  which  to  approach  the  east  coast.  Here  is  the 
loom  all  ready  upon  which  to  spread  the  threads  which  can 
be  worked  into  a  fabric  of  friendship  and  wealth  such  as  we 
have  never  known  before! 

The  real  wealth  of  foreign  relationships,  my  fellow-citizens, 
whether  they  be  the  relationships  of  trade  or  any  other  kind 
of  intercourse,  the  real  wealth  of  those  relationships  is  the 
wealth  of  mutual  confidence  and  understanding.    If  we  do  not 


1 62     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191 6 

luiderstand  them  and  they  do  not  understand  us,  we  can  not 
trade  with  them,  much  less  be  their  friends,  and  it  is  only  by 
weaving  these  intimate  threads  of  connection  that  we  shall 
be  able  to  establish  that  fundamental  thing,  that  psychologi- 
cal, spiritual  nexus  which  is,  after  all,  the  real  warp  and  woof 
of  trade  itself.  We  have  got  to  have  the  knowledge,  we  have 
got  to  have  the  cooperation,  and  then  back  of  all  that  has 
got  to  lie  what  America  has  in  abundance  and  only  has  to 
release,  that  is  to  say,  the  self-reliant  enterprise. 

There  is  only  one  thing  I  have  ever  been  ashamed  of  about 
in  America,  and  that  was  the  timidity  and  fearfulness  of 
Americans  in  the  presence  of  foreign  competitors.  I  have 
dwelt  among  Americans  all  my  life  and  am  an  intense  ab- 
sorbent of  the  atmosphere  of  America,  and  I  know  by  per- 
sonal experience  that  there  are  as  effective  brains  in  America 
as  anywhere  in  the  world.  An  American  afraid  to  pit  Amer- 
ican business  men  against  any  comj>etitors  anyrs^here!  En- 
terprise, the  shrewdness  which  Americans  have  shown,  the 
knowledge  of  business  which  they  have  shown,  all  these  things 
are  going  to  make  for  that  peaceful  and  honorable  conquest 
of  foreign  markets  which  is  our  reasonable  ambition.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


48.    A  SOCIETY  OF  NATIONS 

(October  26,  19 16) 

Address  at  Cincinnati 

*  *  *  What  I  intend  to  preach  from  this  time  on  is  that 
America  must  show  that  as  a  member  of  the  family  of  na- 
tions she  has  the  same  attitude  toward  the  other  nations  that 
she  wishes  her  people  to  have  toward  each  other:  That 
America  is  going  to  take  this  position,  that  she  will  lend  her 
moral  influence,  not  only,  but  her  physical  force,  if  other 
nations  will  join  her,  to  see  to  it  that  no  nation  and  no  group 
of  nations  tries  to  take  advantage  of  another  nation  or  group 
of  nations,  and  that  the  only  thing  ever  fought  for  is  the 
common  rights  of  humanity. 


Oct.  26]  A  SOCIETY  OF  NATIONS  163 

A  great  many  men  are  complaining  that  we  are  not  fight- 
ing now  in  order  to  get  something — not  something  spiritual, 
not  a  right,  not  something  we  could  be  proud  of,  but  some- 
thing we  could  possess  and  take  advantage  of  £tnd  trade  on 
and  profit  by.  They  are  complaining  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  has  not  the  spirit  of  other  Governments, 
which  is  to  put  the  force,  the  army  and  navy,  of  that  Gov- 
ernment behind  investments  in  foreign  countries.  Just  so 
certainly  as  you  do  that,  you  join  this  chaos  of  competing 
and  hostile  ambitions. 

Have  you  ever  heard  what  started  the  present  war?  If 
you  have,  I  wish  you  would  publish  it,  because  nobody  else 
has,  so  far  as  I  can  gather.  Nothing  in  particular  started  it, 
but  everything  in  general.  There  had  been  growing  up  in 
Europe  a  mutual  suspicion,  an  interchange  of  conjectures 
about  what  this  Government  and  that  Government  was  going 
to  do,  an  interlacing  of  alliances  and  understandings,  a  com- 
plex web  of  intrigue  and  spying,  that  presently  was  sure  to 
entangle  the  whole  of  the  family  of  mankind  on  that  side  of 
the  water  in  its  meshes. 

Now,  revive  that  after  this  war  is  over  and  sooner  or  later 
you  will  have  just  such  another  war,  and  this  is  the  last  war 
of  the  kind  or  of  any  kind  that  involves  the  world  that  the 
United  States  can  keep  out  of. 

I  say  that  because  I  believe  that  the  business  of  neutrality 
is  over;  not  because  I  want  it  to  be  over,  but  I  mean  this, 
that  war  now  has  such  a  scale  that  the  position  of  neutrals 
sooner  or  later  becomes  intolerable.  Just  as  neutrality  would 
be  intolerable  to  me  if  I  lived  in  a  community  where  every- 
body had  to  assert  his  own  rights  by  force  and  I  had  to  go 
around  among  my  neighbors  and  say:  ''Here,  this  cannot  last 
any  longer;  let  us  get  together  and  see  that  nobody  disturbs 
the  peace  any  more."  That  is  what  society  is  and  we  have 
not  yet  a  society  of  nations. 

We  must  have  a  society  of  nations,  not  suddenly,  not  by 
insistence,  not  by  any  hostile  emphasis  upon  the  demand,  but 
by  the  demonstration  of  the  needs  of  the  time.  The  nations 
of  the  world  must  get  together  and  say,  "Nobody  can  here- 
after be  neutral  as  respects  the  disturbance  of  the  world's 
peace  for  an  object  which  the  world's  opinion  can  not  sane- 


1 64     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191 6 

tion."  The  world's  peace  ought  to  be  disturbed  if  the  fun- 
damental rights  of  humanity  are  invaded,  but  it  ought  not  to 
be  disturbed  for  any  other  thing  that  I  can  think  of,  and 
America  was  established  in  order  to  indicate,  at  any  rate  in 
one  Government,  the  fundamental  rights  of  man.  America 
must  hereafter  be  ready  as  a  member  of  the  family  of  na- 
tions to  exert  her  whole  force,  moral  and  physical,  to  the 
assertion  of  those  rights  throughout  the  round  globe.  *  *  * 
New  York  Times ,  Oct.  27,  19 16. 


49.    THE  END  OF  ISOLATION 

(November  4,  19 16) 
Address  at  Shadow  Lawn 

*  *  *  The  world  will  never  be  again  what  it  Has  been. 
The  United  States  will  never  be  again  what  it  has  been.  The 
United  States  was  once  in  enjoyment  of  what  we  used  to  call 
splendid  isolation.  The  three  thousand  miles  of  the  Atlan- 
tic seemed  to  hold  all  European  affairs  at  arm's  length  from 
us.  The  great  spaces  of  the  Pacific  seemed  to  disclose  no 
threat  of  influence  upon  our  politics. 

Now,  from  across  the  Atlantic  and  from  across  the  Pacific 
we  feel  to  the  quick  the  influences  which  are  affecting  our- 
selves, and,  in  the  meantime,  whereas  we  used  to  be  always 
in  search  of  assistance  and  stimulation  from  out  of  other 
countries,  always  in  search  of  the  capital  of  other  countries 
to  assist  our  investments,  depending  upon  foreign  markets 
for  the  sale  of  our  securities,  now  we  have  bought  in  more 
than  50  per  cent  of  those  securities;  we  have  become  not 
the  debtors  but  the  creditors  of  the  world,  and  in  what  other 
nations  used  to  play  in  promoting  industries  which  extended 
as  wide  as  the  world  itself,  we  are  playing  the  guiding  part. 

We  can  determine  to  a  large  extent  who  is  to  be  financed 
and  who  is  not  to  be  financed.  That  is  the  reason  I  say  that 
the  United  States  will  never  be  again  what  it  has  been.  So 
it  does  not  suffice  to  look,  as  some  gentlemen  are  looking, 
back  over  their  shoulders,  to  suggest  that  we  do  again  what 


Nov.  4]  THE  END  OF  ISOLATION  165 

we  did  when  we  were  provincial  and  isolated  and  uncon- 
nected with  the  great  forces  of  the  world,  for  now  we  are  in 
the  great  drift  of  humanity  which  is  to  determine  the  poli- 
tics of  every  country  in  the  world. 

With  this  outlook,  is  it  worth  while  to  stop  to  think  of 
party  advantage?  Is  it  worth  stopping  to  think  of  how  we 
have  voted  in  the  past?  We  are  now  going  to  vote,  if  we 
be  men  with  eyes  open  that  can  see  the  world,  as  those  who 
wish  to  make  a  new  America  in  a  new  world  mean  the  same 
old  thing  for  mankind  that  it  meant  when  this  great  Repub- 
lic was  set  up;  mean  hope  and  justice  and  righteous  judgment 
and  unselfish  action.  Why,  my  fellow-citizens,  it  is  an  un- 
precedented thing  in  the  world  that  any  nation  in  determining 
its  foreign  relations  should  be  unselfish,  and  my  ambition  is 
to  see  America  set  the  great  example;  not  only  a  great  ex- 
ample morally,  but  a  great  example  intellectually.  *  *  * 

Every  man  who  has  read  and  studied  the  great  annals  of 
this  country  may  feel  his  blood  warm  as  he  feels  these  great 
forces  of  humanity  growing  stronger  and  stronger,  not  only, 
but  knowing  better  and  better  from  decade  to  decade  how  to 
concert  action  and  unite  their  strength.  In  the  days  to  come 
men  will  no  longer  wonder  how  America  is  going  to  work 
out  her  destiny,  for  she  will  have  proclaimed  to  them  that  her 
destiny  is  not  divided  from  the  destiny  of  the  world;  that  her 
purpose  is  justice  and  love  of  mankind. 

New  York  Times ^  Nov.  5,  19 16. 


SO.    THE  RIGHT  HAND  TO  LABOR 

(November  18,  19 16) 

Address  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  at  the 
White  House 

I  need  not  say  that,  coming  to  me  as  you  do  on  such  an 
errzmd,  I  am  very  deeply  gratified  and  very  greatly  cheered. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  me  off-hand  to  say  just  what 
thoughts  are  stirred  in  me  by  what  Mr.  Gompers  has  said 
to  me  as  your  spokesman,  but  perhaps  the  simplest  thing  I 


i66    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1916 

can  say  is,  after  all,  the  meat  of  the  whole  matter.  What  I 
have  tried  to  do  is  to  get  rid  of  any  class  division  in  this 
country,  not  only,  but  of  any  class  consciousness  and  feeling. 
The  worst  thing  that  could  happen  to  America  would  be  that 
she  should  be  divided  into  groups  and  camps  in  which  there 
were  men  and  women  who  thought  that  they  were  at  odds 
with  one  another,  that  the  spirit  of  America  was  not  ex- 
pressed except  in  them,  and  that  possibilities  of  antagonism 
were  the  only  things  that  we  had  to  look  forward  to. 

As  Mr.  Gompers  said,  achievement  is  a  comparatively 
small  matter,  but  the  spirit  in  which  things  are  done  is  of  the 
essence  of  the  whole  thing,  and  what  I  am  striving  for,  and 
what  I  hope  you  are  striving  for,  is  to  blot  out  all  the  lines 
of  division  in  America,  and  create  a  unity  of  spirit  and  of 
purpose  founded  upon  this,  the  consciousness  that  we  are  all 
men  and  women  of  the  same  sort,  and  that  if  we  do  not  un- 
derstand each  other  we  are  not  true  Americans.  If  we 
cannot  enter  into  each  other's  thoughts,  if  we  cannot  com- 
prehend each  other's  interests,  if  we  cannot  serve  each  oth- 
er's essential  welfare,  then  we  have  not  yet  qualified  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  American  spirit. 

Nothing  alarms  America  so  much  as  rifts,  divisions,  the 
drifting  apart  of  elements  among  her  people,  and  the  thing 
we  ought  all  to  strive  for  is  to  close  up  every  rift;  and  the 
only  way  to  do  it,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  is  to  establish  justice 
not  only,  but  justice  with  a  heart  in  it,  justice  with  a  pulse 
in  it,  justice  with  sympathy  in  it.  Justice  can  be  cold  and 
forbidding,  or  can  be  warm  and  welcome,  and  the  latter  is 
the  only  kind  of  justice  that  Americans  ought  to  desire.  I  do 
not  believe  I  am  deceiving  myself  when  I  say  that  I  think 
this  spirit  is  growing  in  America.  I  pray  God  it  may  con- 
tinue to  grow,  and  all  I  have  to  say  is  to  exhort  every  one 
whom  my  voice  reaches  here  or  elsewhere  to  come  into  this 
common  movement  of  himianity. 

New  York  Times ,  Nov.  19,  19 16. 


Dec.  i8]  THE  WAY  TO  PEACE  i6v 

51.    THE  WAY  TO  PEACE 

(December  18,  19 16) 

Despatch  Partly  in  Reply  to  German  Proposition  oe 
Peace,  through  Secretary  Lansing 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  instructed  me  to 
suggest  to  the  [here  is  inserted  a  designation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment addressed]  a  course  of  action  with  regard  to  the 
present  war  which  he  hopes  that  the  *  *  *  Government  will 
take  imder  consideration  as  suggested  in  the  most  friendly 
spirit,  and  as  coming  not  only  from  a  friend  but  also  as 
coming  from  the  representative  of  a  neutral  nation  whose 
interests  have  been  most  seriously  affected  by  the  war  and 
whose  concern  for  its  early  conclusion  arises  out  of  a  manifest 
necessity  to  determine  how  best  to  safeguard  those  interests 
if  the  war  is  to  continue. 

The  suggestion  which  I  am  instructed  to  make  the  Presi- 
dent has  long  had  it  in  mind  to  offer.  He  is  somewhat  em- 
barrassed to  offer  it  at  this  particular  time  because  it  may 
now  seem  to  have  been  prompted  by  a  desire  to  play  a  part 
in  connection  with  the  recent  overtures  of  the  Central  Pow- 
ers. It  has  in  fact  been  in  no  way  suggested  by  them  in 
its  origin  and  the  President  would  have  delayed  offering  it 
until  those  overtures  had  been  independently  answered  but 
for  the  fact  that  it  also  concerns  the  questions  of  peace  and 
may  best  be  considered  in  connection  with  other  proposals 
which  have  the  same  end  in  view.  The  President  can  only 
beg  that  his  suggestion  be  considered  entirely  on  its  own 
merits  and  as  if  it  had  been  made  in  other  circumstances. 

The  President  suggests  that  an  early  occasion  be  sought 
to  call  out  from  all  the  nations  now  at  war  such  an  avowal 
of  their  respective  views  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  the 
war  might  be  concluded  and  the  arrangements  which  would 
be  deemed  satisfactory  as  a  guaranty  against  its  renewal  or 
the  kindling  of  any  similar  conflict  in  the  future  as  would 
make  it  possible  frankly  to  compare  them.  He  is  indifferent 
as  to  the  means  taken  to  accomplish  this.     He  would  be 


i68    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1916 

happy  himself  to  serve,  or  even  to  take  the  initiative  in  its 
accomplishment,  in  any  way  that  might  prove  acceptable, 
but  he  has  no  desire  to  determine  the  method  or  the  instru- 
mentality. One  way  will  be  as  acceptable  to  him  as  another 
if  only  tiie  great  object  he  has  in  mind  be  attained. 

He  takes  the  liberty  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  objects  which  the  statesmen  of  the  belligerents  on  both 
sides  have  in  mind  in  this  war  are  virtually  the  same,  as 
stated  in  general  terms  to  their  own  people  and  to  the  world. 
Each  side  desires  to  make  the  rights  and  privileges  of  weak 
peoples  and  small  states  as  secure  against  aggression  or 
denial  in  the  future  as  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  great 
and  powerful  states  now  at  war.  Each  wishes  itself  to  be 
made  secure  in  the  future,  along  with  all  other  nations  and 
peoples,  against  the  recurrence  of  wars  like  this,  and  against 
aggression  or  selfish  interference  of  any  kind.  Each  would 
be  jealous  of  the  formation  of  any  more  rival  leagues  to 
preserve  an  uncertain  balance  of  power  amidst  multiplying 
suspicions;  but  each  is  ready  to  consider  the  formation  of 
a  league  of  nations  to  insure  peace  and  justice  throughout 
the  world.  Before  that  final  step  can  be  taken,  however,  each 
deems  it  necessary  first  to  settle  the  issues  of  the  present  war 
upon  terms  which  will  certainly  safeguard  the  independence, 
the  territorial  integrity,  and  the  political  and  commercial  free- 
dom of  the  nations  involved. 

In  the  measures  to  be  taken  to  secure  the  future  peace  of 
the  world  the  people  and  Government  of  the  United  States 
are  as  vitally  and  as  directly  interested  as  the  Governments 
now  at  war.  Their  interest,  moreover,  in  the  means  to  be 
adopted  to  relieve  the  smaller  and  weaker  peoples  of  the 
world  of  the  peril  of  wrong  and  violence  is  as  quick  and 
ardent  as  that  of  any  other  people  or  Government.  They 
stand  ready,  and  even  eager,  to  cooperate  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  ends,  when  the  war  is  over,  with  every  influence 
and  resource  at  their  command.  But  the  war  must  first 
be  concluded.  The  terms  upon  which  it  is  to  be  concluded 
they  are  not  at  liberty  to  suggest;  but  the  President  does 
feel  that  it  is  his  right  and  his  duty  to  point  out  their  inti- 
mate interest  in  its  conclusion,  lest  it  should  presently  be 
too  late  to  accomplish  the  greater  things  which  lie  beyond 


Dec.  i8]  THE  WAY  TO  PEACE  169 

its  conclusion,  lest  the  situation  of  neutral  nations,  now  ex- 
ceedingly hard  to  endure,  be  rendered  altogether  intolerable, 
and  lest,  more  than  all,  an  injury  be  done  civilization  itself 
which  can  never  be  atoned  for  or  repaired. 

The  President  therefore  feels  altogether  justified  in  sug- 
gesting an  immediate  opportunity  for  a  comparison  of  views 
as  to  the  terms  which  must  precede  those  ultimate  arrange- 
ments for  the  peace  of  the  world,  which  all  desire  and  in 
which  the  neutral  nations  as  well  as  those  at  war  are  ready 
to  play  their  full  responsible  part.  If  the  contest  must 
continue  to  proceed  toward  undefined  ends  by  slow  attrition 
until  the  one  group  of  belligerents  or  the  other  is  exhausted, 
if  millions  after  millions  of  human  lives  must  continue  to 
be  offered  up  until  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  there  are 
no  more  to  offer,  if  resentments  must  be  kindled  that  can 
never  cool  and  despairs  engendered  from  which  there  can 
be  no  recovery,  hopes  of  peace  and  of  the  willing  concert  of 
free  peoples  will  be  rendered  vain  and  idle. 

The  life  of  the  entire  world  has  been  profoundly  affected. 
Every  part  of  the  great  family  of  mankind  has  felt  the 
burden  and  terror  of  this  unprecedented  contest  of  arms. 
No  nation  in  the  civilized  world  can  be  said  in  truth  to 
stand  outside  its  influence  or  to  be  safe  against  its  disturb- 
ing effects.  And  yet  the  concrete  objects  for  which  it  is 
being  waged  have  never  been  definitively  stated. 

The  leaders  of  the  several  belligerents  have,  as  has  heen 
said,  stated  those  objects  in  general  terms.  But,  stated  in 
general  terms,  they  seem  the  same  on  both  sides.  Never 
yet  have  the  authoritative  spokesmen  of  either  side  avowed 
the  precise  objects  which  would,  if  attained,  satisfy  them 
and  their  people  that  the  war  had  been  fought  out.  The 
world  has  been  left  to  conjecture  what  definitive  results, 
what  actual  exchange  of  guaranties,  what  political  or  terri- 
torial changes  or  readjustments,  what  stage  of  military  suc- 
cess even,  would  bring  the  war  to  an  end. 

It  may  be  that  peace  is  nearer  than  we  know;  that  the 
terms  which  the  belligerents  on  the  one  side  and  on  the 
other  would  deem  it  necessary  to  insist  upon  are  not  so 
irreconciliable  as  some  have  feared;  that  an  interchange  of 
views  would  clear  the  way  at  least  for  conference  and  make 


170    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1916 

the  permanent  concord  of  the  nations  a  hope  of  the  imme- 
diate future,  a  concert  of  nations  immediately  practicable. 
The  President  is  not  proposing  peace;  he  is  not  even 
offering  mediation.  He  is  merely  proposing  that  soundings 
be  taken  in  order  that  we  may  learn,  the  neutral  nations 
with  the  belligerent,  how  near  the  haven  of  peace  may  be 
for  which  all  mankind  longs  with  an  intense  and  increasing 
longing.  He  believes  that  the  spirit  in  which  he  speaks 
and  the  objects  which  he  seeks  will  be  understood  by  all 
concerned,  and  he  confidently  hopes  for  a  response  which 
will  bring  a  new  light  into  the  affairs  of  the  world. 

Congressional  Record,  LIV,  App.  36. 


YEAR    1917 
52.    SUPPORT  FOR  THE  RED  CROSS 

(January  7,  1917) 
Public  Appeal  as  President  of  the  Red  Cross 

Another  Winter  closes  around  the  great  European  struggle 
and,  with  the  cold,  there  comes  greater  need  among  soldiers 
in  the  fighting  line  and  in  the  hospitals,  and  still  more  among 
the  women  and  children  in  ruined  homes  or  in  exile.  This 
country,  at  peace,  blessed  with  prosperity,  can  hardly  imagine 
the  needs,  but  it  can  help  to  meet  them. 

Of  great  importance  among  the  agencies  which  have  ex- 
pressed our  sympathy  with  suffering  humanity  among  the 
belligerent  nations  has  been  the  American  Red  Cross.  This 
organization  of  our  countrymen  has  brought  relief  to  every 
nation  in  the  great  war.  Its  skilled  workers  have  cared  for 
the  wounded  in  every  army,  have  gone  forth  through  the  des- 
olate Siberian  plains  to  bring  help  to  thousands  of  prisoners, 
have  fought  disease  in  pestilence-ridden  Serbia,  and  have 
brought  hope  to  countless  non-combatants,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. 

Wherever  these  Red  Cross  men  and  women  go,  they  are 
carrying  the  message  that  Americans  cannot  rest  without 
seeking  to  relieve  such  suffering.  Organized,  persistent  work, 
like  that  conducted  by  our  American  Red  Cross,  requires  a 
great  deal  of  money.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  money 
has  come  to  us  from  men  and  women  in  all  walks  of  life. 
We  have  received  checks  in  five  figures  and  pennies  wrapped 
in  smudged  envelopes.  What  we  have  done  with  the  money 
is  told  in  the  accompanying  statement. 

But  now  our  funds  are  well-nigh  exhausted.     We  find 

171 


172    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1917 

ourselves  at  the  point  where  activities  must  be  seriously  cur- 
tailed and  we  must  turn  away  from  the  heart-breaking  appeals 
brought  by  every  European  mail,  imless  by  your  contribu- 
tion you  help  us  to  continue. 

It  is  for  you  to  decide  whether  the  most  prosperous  nation 
in  the  world  will  allow  its  national  relief  organization  to  keep 
up  its  work  or  withdraw  from  a  field  where  there  exists  the 
greatest  need  ever  recorded  in  history.  We  leave  the  decision 
in  your  hands,  confident  of  its  outcome. 

N€w  York  Times f  Jan.  8,  19 17. 


53.     CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 

(January  22,  1917) 

Address  to  the  Senate 

On  the  eighteenth  of  December  last  I  addressed  an  identic 
note  to  the  governments  of  the  nations  now  at  war  request- 
ing them  to  state,  more  definitely  than  they  had  yet  been 
stated  by  either  group  of  belligerents,  the  terms  upon  which 
they  would  deem  it  possible  to  make  peace.  I  spoke  on  be- 
half of  humanity  and  of  the  rights  of  all  neutral  nations  like 
our  own,  many  of  whose  most  vital  interests  the  war  puts  in 
constant  jeapardy.  The  Central  Powers  united  in  a  reply 
which  stated  merely  that  they  were  ready  to  meet  their  an- 
tagonists in  conference  to  discuss  terms  of  peace.  The  En- 
tente Powers  have  replied  much  more  definitely  and  have 
stated,  in  general  terms,  indeed,  but  with  sufficient  definite- 
ness  to  imply  details,  the  arrangements,  guarantees,  and  acts 
of  reparation  which  they  deem  to  be  the  indispensable  con- 
ditions of  a  satisfactory  settlement.  We  are  that  much  nearer 
a  definite  discussion  of  the  peace  which  shall  end  the  present 
war.  We  are  that  much  nearer  the  discussion  of  the  inter- 
national concert  which  must  thereafter  hold  the  world  at 
peace.  In  every  discussion  of  the  peace  that  must  end  this 
war  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  that  peace  must  be  followed 
by  some  definite  concert  of  power  which  will  make  it  virtually 
impossible  that  any  such  catastrophe  should  ever  overwhelm 


Jan.  22]  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE  173 

us  again.  Every  lover  of  mankind,  every  sane  and  thought- 
ful man  must  take  that  for  granted. 

I  have  sought  this  opportunity  to  address  you  because  I 
thought  that  I  owed  it  to  you,  as  the  council  associated  with 
me  in  the  final  determination  of  our  international  obliga- 
tions, to  disclose  to  you  without  reserve  the  thought  and 
purpose  that  have  been  taking  form  in  my  mind  in  regard 
to  the  duty  of  our  Government  in  the  days  to  come  when  it 
will  be  necessary  to  lay  afresh  and  upon  a  new  plan  the 
foundations  of  peace  among  the  nations. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
should  play  no  part  in  that  great  enterprise.  To  take  part  in 
such  a  service  will  be  the  opportunity  for  which  they  have 
sought  to  prepare  themselves  by  the  very  principles  and  pur- 
poses of  their  polity  and  the  approved  practices  of  their 
Government  ever  since  the  days  when  they  set  up  a  new 
nation  in  the  high  and  honorable  hope  that  it  might  in  all 
that  it  was  and  did  show  mankind  the  way  to  liberty.  They 
cannot  in  honor  withhold  the  service  to  which  they  are  now 
about  to  be  challenged.  They  do  not  wish  to  withhold  it. 
But  they  owe  it  to  themselves  and  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
world  to  state  the  conditions  under  which  they  will  feel  free 
_to  render  it. 

""  That  service  is  nothing  less  than  this,  to  add  their  authority 
and  their  power  to  the  authority  and  force  of  other  nations 
to  guarantee  peace  and  justice  throughout  the  world.  Such 
a  settlement  cannot  now  be  long  postponed.  It  is  right  that 
before  it  comes  this  Government  should  frankly  formulate 
the  conditions  upon  which  it  would  feel  justified  in  asking 
our  people  to  approve  its  formal  and  solemn  adherence  to  a 
League  for  Peace.  I  am  here  to  attempt  to  state  those  con- 
ditions. 

The  present  war  must  first  be  ended;  but  we  owe  it  to 
candour  and  to  a  just  regard  for  the  opinion  of  mankind  to 
say  that,  so  far  as  our  participation  in  guarantees  of  future 
peace  is  considered,  it  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference  in 
what  way  and  upon  what  terms  it  is  ended.  The  treaties  and 
agreements  which  bring  it  to  an  end  must  embody  terms 
which  will  create  a  peace  that  is  worth  guaranteeing  and 
preserving,  a  peace  that  will  win  the  approval  of  mankind, 


174    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

not  merely  a  peace  that  will  serve  the  several  interests  and 
immediate  aims  of  the  nations  engaged.  We  shall  have  no 
voice  in  determining  what  those  terms  shall  be,  but  we  shall, 
I  feel  sure,  have  a  voice  in  determining  whether  they  shall 
be  made  lasting  or  not  by  the  guarantees  of  a  universal  cove- 
nant; and  our  judgment  upon  what  is  fundamental  and  es- 
sential as  a  condition  precedent  to  permanency  should  be 
spoken  now,  not  afterwards  when  it  may  be  too  late. 

No  covenant  of  cooperative  peace  that  does  not  include 
the  peoples  of  the  New  World  can  suffice  to  keep  the  future 
safe  against  war;  and  yet  there  is  only  one  sort  of  peace  that 
the  peoples  of  America  could  join  in  guaranteeing.  The 
elements  of  that  peace  must  be  elements  that  engage  the 
confidence  and  satisfy  the  principles  of  the  American  gov- 
ernments, elements  consistent  with  their  political  faith  and 
with  the  practical  convictions  which  the  peoples  of  America 
have  once  for  all  embraced  and  undertaken  to  defend. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  any  American  government  would 
throw  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  any  terms  of  peace  the 
governments  now  at  war  might  agree  upon,  or  seek  to  upset 
them  when  made,  whatever  they  might  be.  I  only  take  it 
for  granted  that  mere  terms  of  peace  between  the  belligerents 
will  not  satisfy  even  the  belligerents  themselves.  Mere  agree- 
ments may  not  make  peace  secure.  It  will  be  absolutely 
necessary  that  a  force  be  created  as  a  guarantor  of  the  per- 
manency of  the  settlement  so  much  greater  than  the  force  of 
any  nation  now  engaged  or  any  alliance  hitherto  formed  or 
projected  that  no  nation,  no  probable  combination  of  na- 
tions could  face  or  withstand  it.  If  the  peace  presently  to  be 
made  is  to  endure,  it  must  be  a  peace  made  secure  by  the 
organized  major  force  of  mankind. 

The  terms  of  the  immediate  peace  agreed  upon  will  deter- 
mine whether  it  is  a  peace  for  which  such  a  guarantee  can 
be  secured.  The  question  upon  which  the  whole  future  peace 
and  policy  of  the  world  depends  is  this:  Is  the  present  war  a 
struggle  for  a  just  and  secure  peace,  or  only  for  a  new  balance 
of  power?  If  it  be  only  a  struggle  for  a  new  balance  of 
power,  who  will  guarantee,  who  can  guarantee,  the  stable 
equilibrium  of  the  new  arrangement?    Only  a  tranquil  Europe 


Jan.  22]  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE  175 

can  be  a  stable  Europe.  There  must  be,  not  a  balance  of 
power,  but  a  community  of  power;  not  organized  rivalries, 
but  an  organized  common  peace. 

Fortunately  we  have  received  very  explicit  assurances  on 
this  point.  The  statesmen  of  both  of  the  groups  of  nations 
now  arrayed  against  one  another  have  said,  in  terms  that 
could  not  be  misinterpreted,  that  it  was  no  part  of  the  pur- 
pose they  had  in  mind  to  crush  their  antagonists.  But  the 
implications  of  these  assurances  may  not  be  equally  clear  to 
all, — may  not  be  the  same  on  both  sides  of  the  water.  I 
think  it  will  be  serviceable  if  I  attempt  to  set  forth  what 
we  understand  them  to  be. 

They  imply,  first  of  all,  that  it  must  be  a  peace  without 
victory.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  say  this.  I  beg  that  I  may  be 
permitted  to  put  my  own  interpretation  upon  it  and  that  it 
may  be  understood  that  no  other  interpretation  was  in  my 
thought.  I  am  seeking  only  to  face  realities  and  to  face  them 
without  soft  concealments.  Victory  would  mean  peace  forced 
upon  the  loser,  a  victor's  terms  imposed  upon  the  van- 
quished. It  would  be  accepted  in  humiliation,  under  duress^ 
at  an  intolerable  sacrifice,  and  would  leave  a  sting,  a  resent- 
ment, a  bitter  memory  upon  which  terms  of  peace  would  rest, 
not  permanently,  but  only  as  upon  quicksand.  Only  a  peace 
between  equals  can  last.  Only  a  peace  the  very  principle  of 
which  is  equality  and  a  common  participation  in  a  common 
benefit.  The  right  state  of  mind,  the  right  feeling  between 
nations,  is  as  necessary  for  a  lasting  peace  as  is  the  just 
settlement  of  vexed  questions  of  territory  or  of  racial  and 
national  allegiance. 

The  equality  of  nations  upon  which  peace  must  be  founded 
if  it  is  to  last  must  be  an  equality  of  rights;  the  guarantees 
exchanged  must  neither  recognize  nor  imply  a  difference 
between  big  nations  and  small,  between  those  that  are  pow- 
erful and  those  that  are  weak.  Right  must  be  based  upon 
the  common  strength,  not  upon  the  individual  strength,  of 
the  nations  upon  whose  concert  peace  will  depend.  Equality 
of  territory  or  of  resources  there  of  course  cannot  be;  nor 
any  other  sort  of  equality  not  gained  in  the  ordinary  peace- 
ful and  legitimate  development  of  the  peoples  themselves. 


176    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

But  no  one  asks  or  expects  anything  more  than  an  equality 
of  rights.  Mankind  is  looking  now  for  freedom  of  life,  not 
for  equipoises  of  power. 

And  there  is  a  deeper  thing  involved  than  even  equality 
of  right  among  organized  nations.  No  peace  can  last,  or 
ought  to  last,  which  does  not  recognize  and  accept  the  prin- 
ciple that  governments  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  no  right  an3rwhere  exists 
to  hand  peoples  about  from  sovereignty  to  sovereignty  as  if 
they  were  property.  I  take  it  for  granted,  for  instance,  if  I 
may  venture  upon  a  single  example,  that  statesmen  every- 
where are  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  united,  independent, 
and  autonomous  Poland,  and  that  henceforth  inviolable  secur- 
ity of  life,  of  worship,  and  of  industrial  and  social  develop- 
ment should  be  guaranteed  to  all  peoples  who  have  lived 
hitherto  under  the  power  of  governments  devoted  to  a  faith 
and  purpose  hostile  to  their  own. 

I  speak  of  this,  not  because  of  any  desire  to  exalt  an 
abstract  political  principle  which  has  always  been  held  very 
dear  by  those  who  have  sought  to  build  up  liberty  in  Amer- 
ica, but  for  the  same  reason  that  I  have  spoken  of  the  other 
conditions  of  peace  which  seem  to  me  clearly  indispensable, — 
because  I  wish  frankly  to  uncover  realities.  Any  peace  which 
does  not  recognize  and  accept  this  principle  will  inevitably 
be  upset.  It  will  not  rest  upon  the  affections  or  the  con- 
victions of  mankind.  The  ferment  of  spirit  of  whole  popu- 
lations will  fight  subtly  and  constantly  against  it,  and  all 
the  world  will  sympathize.  The  world  can  be  at  peace  only 
if  its  life  is  stable,  and  there  can  be  no  stability  where  the 
will  is  in  rebellion,  where  there  is  not  tranquility  of  spirit 
and  a  sense  of  justice,  of  freedom,  and  of  right. 

So  far  as  practicable,  moreover,  every  great  people  now 
struggling  towards  a  full  development  of  its  resources  and 
of  its  powers  should  be  assured  a  direct  outlet  to  the  great 
highways  of  the  sea.  Where  this  cannot  be  done  by  the  cession 
of  territory,  it  can  no  doubt  be  done  by  the  neutralization 
of  direct  rights  of  way  under  the  general  guarantee  which 
will  assure  the  peace  itself.  With  a  right  comity  of  arrange- 
ment no  nation  need  be  shut  away  from  free  access  to  the 
open  paths  of  the  world's  commerce. 


Jan.  22]  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE  177 

And  the  paths  of  the  sea  must  alike  in  law  and  in  fact  be 
free.  The  freedom  of  the  seas  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  peace, 
equality,  and  cooperation.  No  doubt  a  somewhat  radical 
reconsideration  of  many  of  the  rules  of  international  prac- 
tice hitherto  thought  to  be  established  may  be  necessary  in 
order  to  make  the  seas  indeed  free  and  common  in  practically 
all  circumstances  for  the  use  of  mankind,  but  the  motive  for 
such  changes  is  convincing  and  compelling.  There  can  be 
no  trust  or  intimacy  between  the  peoples  of  the  world  without 
them.  The  free,  constant,  unthreatened  intercourse  of  na- 
tions is  an  essential  part  of  the  process  of  peace  and  of 
development.  It  need  not  be  difficult  either  to  define  or  to 
secure  the  freedom  of  the  seas  if  the  governments  of  the 
world  sincerely  desire  to  come  to  an  agreement  concerning 
it. 

It  is  a  problem  closely  connected  with  the  limitation  of 
naval  armaments  and  the  cooperation  of  the  navies  of  the 
world  in  keeping  the  seas  at  once  free  and  safe.  And  the 
question  of  limiting  naval  armaments  opens  the  wider  and 
perhaps  more  difficult  question  of  the  limitation  of  armies 
and  of  all  programmes  of  military  preparation.  Difficult  and 
delicate  as  these  questions  are,  they  must  be  faced  with  the 
utmost  candour  and  decided  in  a  spirit  of  real  accommodation 
if  peace  is  to  come  with  healing  in  its  wings,  and  come  to 
stay.  Peace  cannot  be  had  without  concession  and  sacrifice. 
There  can  be  no  sense  of  safety  and  equality  among  the  na- 
tions if  great  preponderating  armaments  are  henceforth  to 
continue  here  and  there  to  be  built  up  and  maintained.  The 
statesmen  of  the  world  must  plan  for  peace  and  nations  must 
adjust  and  accommodate  their  policy  to  it  as  they  have 
planned  for  war  and  made  ready  for  pitiless  contest  and 
rivalry.  The  question  of  armaments,  whether  on  land  or  sea, 
is  the  most  immediately  and  intensely  practical  question  con- 
nected with  the  future  fortunes  of  nations  and  of  mankind. 

I  have  spoken  upon  these  great  matters  without  reserve  and 
with  the  utmost  explicitness  because  it  has  seemed  to  me  to 
be  necessary  if  the  world's  yearning  desire  for  peace  was 
anywhere  to  find  free  voice  and  utterance.  Perhaps  I  am  the 
only  person  in  high  authority  amongst  all  the  peoples  of  the 


178    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

world  who  is  at  liberty  to  speak  and  hold  nothing  back.  I 
am  speaking  as  an  individual,  and  yet  I  am  speaking  also, 
of  course,  as  the  responsible  head  of  a  great  government,  and 
I  feel  confident  that  I  have  said  what  the  people  of  the 
United  States  would  wish  me  to  say.  May  I  not  add  that 
I  hope  and  believe  that  I  am  in  effect  speaking  for  liberals 
and  friends  of  humanity  in  every  nation  and  of  every  pro- 
gramme of  liberty?  I  would  fain  believe  that  I  am  speaking 
for  the  silent  mass  of  mankind  everywhere  who  have  as  yet 
had  no  place  or  opportunity  to  speak  their  real  hearts  out 
concerning  the  death  and  ruin  they  see  to  have  come  already 
upon  the  persons  and  the  homes  they  hold  most  dear. 

And  in  holding  out  the  expectation  that  the  people  and 
Government  of  the  United  States  will  join  the  other  civilized 
nations  of  the  world  in  guaranteeing  the  permanence  of 
peace  upon  such  terms  as  I  have  named  I  speak  with  the 
greater  boldness  and  confidence  because  it  is  clear  to  every 
man  who  can  think  that  there  is  in  this  promise  no  breach 
in  either  our  traditions  or  our  policy  as  a  nation,  but  a  ful- 
filment, rather,  of  all  that  we  have  professed  or  striven  for. 

I  am  proposing,  as  it  were,  that  the  nations  should  with 
one  accord  adopt  the  doctrine  of  President  Monroe  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  world:  that  no  nation  should  seek  to  extend 
its  polity  over  any  other  nation  or  people,  but  that  every 
people  should  be  left  free  to  determine  its  own  polity,  its 
own  way  of  development,  unhindered,  unthreatened,  unafraid, 
the  little  along  with  the  great  and  powerful. 

I  am  proposing  that  all  nations  henceforth  avoid  entangling 
alliances  which  would  draw  them  into  competitions  of 
power,  catch  them  in  a  net  of  intrigue  and  selfish  rivalry, 
and  disturb  their  own  affairs  with  influences  intruded  from 
without.  There  is  no  entangling  alliance  in  a  concert  of 
power.  When  all  unite  to  act  in  the  same  sense  and  with 
the  same  purpose  all  act  in  the  common  interest  and  are 
free  to  live  their  own  lives  under  a  common  protection. 

I  am  proposing  government  by  the  consent  of  the  governed ; 
that  freedom  of  the  seas  which  in  international  conference 
after  conference  representatives  of  the  United  States  have 
urged  with  the  eloquence  of  those  who  are  the  convinced 
disciples  of  liberty;    and   that  moderation   of   armaments 


Jan.  22]  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE  179 

which  makes  of  armies  and  navies  a  power  for  order  merely, 
not  an  instmment  of  aggression  or  of  selfish  violence. 

These  are  American  principles,  American  policies.  We 
could  stand  for  no  others.  And  they  are  also  the  prin- 
cipjes  and  policies  of  forward  looking  men  and  women 
everywhere,  of  every  modem  nation,  of  every  enlightened 
commimity.  They  are  the  principles  of  mankind  and  must 
prevail.  White  House  Pamphlet. 

54.    BREACH  WITH  GERMANY 

(February  3,  1917) 
Address  to  Congress 

The  Imperial  German  Government  on  the  thirty-first  of 
January  announced  to  this  Government  and  to  the  govern- 
ments of  the  other  neutral  nations  that  on  and  after  the 
first  day  of  February,  the  present  month,  it  would  adopt  a 
policy  with  regard  to  the  use  of  submarines  against  all 
shipping  seeking  to  pass  through  certain  designated  areas  of 
the  high  seas  to  which  it  is  clearly  my  duty  to  call  your 
attention. 

Let  me  remind  the  Congress  that  on  the  eighteenth  of 
April  last,  in  view  of  the  sinking  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
March  of  the  cross-channel  passenger  steamer  Sussex  by  a 
German  submarine,  without  summons  or  warning,  and  the 
consequent  loss  of  the  lives  of  several  citizens  of  the  United 
States  who  were  passengers  aboard  her,  this  Government 
addressed  a  note  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  in 
which  it  made  the  following  declaration: 

"If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government  to 
prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against  ves- 
sels of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines  without  regard 
to  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States  must  con- 
sider the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  international  law 
and  the  universally  recognized  dictates  of  humanity,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  is  but  cne  course  it  can  pursue.  Un- 
less the  Imperial  Governn:er.t  :hculd  now  immediately  de- 


dare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its  present  methods  of 
submarine  warfare  against  passenger  and  freight-carrying 
vessels,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  have  no 
choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the  German 
Empire  altogether." 

In  reply  to  this  declaration  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment gave  this  Government  the  following  assurance: 

"The  German  Government  is  prepared  to  do  its  utmost  to 
confine  the  operations  of  war  for  the  rest  of  its  duration  to 
the  fighting  forces  of  the  belligerents,  thereby  also  insuring 
the  freedom  of  the  seas,  a  principle  upon  which  the  German 
Government  believes,  now  as  -before,  to  be  in  agreement  with 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

"The  German  Government,  guided  by  this  idea,  notifies 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  German 
naval  forces  have  received  the  following  orders:  In  accord- 
ance with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and  search  and  de- 
struction of  merchant  vessels  recognized  by  international 
law,  such  vessels,  both  within  and  without  the  area  declared 
as  naval  war  zone,  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning  and 
without  saving  human  lives,  imless  these  ships  attempt  to 
escape  or  offer  resistance. 

"But,"  it  added,  "neutrals  can  not  expect  that  Germany, 
forced  to  fight  for  her  existence,  shall,  for  the  sake  of  neutral 
interest,  restrict  the  use  of  an  effective  weapon  if  her  enemy 
is  permitted  to  continue  to  apply  at  will  methods  of  war- 
fare violating  the  rules  of  international  law.  Such  a  demand 
would  be  incompatible  with  the  character  of  neutrality,  and 
the  German  Government  is  convinced  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  does  not  think  of  making  such  a  de- 
mand, knowing  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  repeatedly  declared  that  it  is  determined  to  restore  the 
principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  from  whatever  quarter 
it  has  been  violated." 

To  this  the  Government  of  the  United  States  replied  on 
the  eighth  of  May,  accepting,  of  course,  the  assurances  given, 
but  adding, 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  it  necessary 
to  state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the  maintenance 


Feb.  3]  BREACH  WITH  GERMANY  181 

of  its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way  contingent  upon 
the  course  or  result  of  diplomatic  negotiations  between  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  and  any  other  belligerent 
Government,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  certain  passages 
in  the  Imperial  Government's  note  of  the  4th  instant  might 
appear  to  be  susceptible  of  that  construction.  In  order, 
however,  to  avoid  any  possible  misunderstanding,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  notifies  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment that  it  can  not  for  a  moment  entertain,  much  less 
discuss,  a  suggestion  that  respect  by  German  naval  authori- 
ties for  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
high  seas  should  in  any  way  or  in  the  slightest  degree  be 
made  contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Govern- 
ment affecting  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  noncombatants. 
Responsibility  in  such  matters  is  single,  not  joint;  absolute, 
not  relative." 

To  this  note  of  the  eighth  of  May  the  imperial  German 
Government  made  no  reply. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  January,  the  Wednesday  of  the  pres- 
ent week,  the  German  Ambassador  handed  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  along  with  a  formal  note,  a  memorandum  which 
contains  the  following  statement: 

"The  Imperial  Government,  therefore,  does  not  doubt  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  understand  the 
situation  thus  forced  upon  Germany  by  the  Entente-Allies' 
brutal  methods  of  war  and  by  their  determination  to  destroy 
the  Central  Powers,  and  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  will  further  realize  that  the  now  openly  disclosed 
intentions  of  the  Entente-Allies  give  back  to  Germany  the 
freedom  of  action  which  she  reserved  in  her  note  addressed 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  on  May  4,  19 16. 

"Under  these  circumstances  Germany  will  meet  the  illegal 
measures  of  her  enemies  by  forcibly  preventing  after  Feb- 
ruary I,  191 7,  in  a  zone  around  Great  Britain,  France, 
Italy,  and  in  the  Eastern  Mediterranean  all  navigation,  that 
of  neutrals  included,  from  and  to  England  and  from  and  to 
France,  etc.,  etc.  All  ships  met  within  the  zone  will  be 
sunk." 

I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that,  in  view  of  this 
declaration,  which  suddenly  and  without  prior  intimation  of 


i82     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

any  kind  deliberately  withdraws  the  solemn  assurance  given 
in  the  Imperial  Government's  note  of  the  fourth  of  May, 
19 1 6,  this  Government  has  no  alternative  consistent  with 
the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  United  States  but  to  take  the 
course  which,  in  its  note  of  the  eighteenth  of  April,  19 16,  it 
announced  that  it  would  take  in  the  eve'^t  that  the  German 
Government  did  not  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of 
the  methods  of  submarine  warfare  which  it  was  then  em- 
ploying and  to  which  it  now  purposes  again  to  resort. 

I  have,  therefore,  directed  the  Secretary  of  State  to  an- 
nounce to  His  Excellency  the  German  Ambassador  that  all 
diplomatic  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the 
German  Empire  are  severed,  and  that  the  American  Ambas- 
sador at  Berlin  will  immediately  be  withdrawn;  and,  in 
accordance  with  this  decision,  to  hand  to  His  Excellency  his 
passports. 

Notwithstanding  this  unexpected  action  of  the  German 
Government,  this  sudden  and  deeply  deplorable  renunciation 
of  its  assurances,  given  this  Government  at  one  of  the  most 
critical  moments  of  tension  in  the  relations  of  the  two  govern- 
ments, I  refuse  to  believe  that  it  is  the  intention  of  the 
German  authorities  to  do  in  fact  what  they  have  warned 
us  they  will  feel  at  liberty  to  do.  I  can  not  bring  myself  to 
believe  that  they  will  indeed  pay  no  regard  to  the  ancient 
friendship  between  their  people  and  our  own  or  to  the 
solemn  obligations  which  have  been  exchanged  between  them 
and  destroy  American  ships  and  take  the  lives  of  American 
citizens  in  the  wilful  prosecution  of  the  ruthless  naval  pro- 
gramme they  have  announced  their  intention  to  adopt.  Only 
actual  overt  acts  on  their  part  can  make  me  believe  it  even 
now. 

If  this  inveterate  confidence  on  my  part  in  the  sobriety 
and  prudent  foresight  of  their  purpose  should  imhappily 
prove  unfounded;  if  American  ships  and  American  lives 
should  in  fact  be  sacrificed  by  their  naval  commanders  in 
heedless  contravention  of  the  just  and  reasonable  under- 
standings of  international  law  and  the  obvious  dictates  of 
humanity,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  coming  again  before 
the  Congress,  to  ask  that  authority  be  given  me  to  use  any 
means  that  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection  of  our  sea- 


Feb.  3]  BREACH  WITH  GERMANY  183 

men  and  our  people  in  the  prosecution  of  their  peaceful 
and  legitimate  errands  on  the  high  seas,  I  can  do  nothing 
less.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  all  neutral  governments  will 
take  the  same  course. 

We  do  not  desire  any  hostile  conflict  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government.  We  are  the  sincere  friends  of  the 
German  people  and  earnestly  desire  to  remain  at  peace  with 
the  Government  which  speaks  for  them.  We  shall  not  be- 
lieve that  they  are  hostile  to  us  unless  and  until  we  are 
obliged  to  believe  it;  and  we  purpose  nothing  more  than 
the  reasonable  defense  of  the  undoubted  rights  of  our  people. 
We  wish  to  serve  no  selfish  ends.  We  seek  merely  to  stand 
true  alike  in  thought  and  in  action  to  the  immemorial  prin- 
ciples of  our  people  which  I  sought  to  express  in  my  address 
to  the  Senate  only  two  weeks  ago, — seek  merely  to  vindi- 
cate our  right  to  liberty  and  justice  and  an  unmolested  life. 
These  are  the  bases  of  peace,  not  war.  God  grant  we  may 
not  be  challenged  to  defend  them  by  acts  of  wilful  injustice 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  Germany! 

White  House  Pamphlet, 

55.    A  GREAT  INVENTOR 

(February  10,  19 17) 

Letter  to  Thomas  A.  Edison  on  His  70TH  Birthday 

I  wish  with  all  my  heart  that  I  might  be  present  to  take 
part  in  celebrating  Mr.  Edison's  seventieth  birthday.  It 
would  be  a  real  pleasure  to  be  able  to  say  in  public  with  what 
deep  and  genuine  admiration  I  have  followed  his  remarkable 
career  of  achievement.  I  was  an  undergraduate  at  the 
university  when  his  first  inventions  captured  the  imagination 
of  the  world,  and  ever  since  then  I  have  retained  the  sense 
of  magic  which  what  he  did  then  created  in  my  mind.  He 
seems  always  to  have  been  in  the  special  confidence  of 
Nature  herself.  His  career  already  has  made  an  indelible 
impression  in  the  history  of  applied  science,  and  I  hope  that 
he  has  many  years  before  him  in  vrhich  to  make  his  record 
still  more  remarkable. 

New  Ycyrk  limes,  Feb.  11,  19 17. 


i84    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 
56.    POLITICAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  AMERICANS 

(March  5,  1917) 

Second  Inaugural  Address 

The  four  years  which  have  elapsed  since  last  I  stood  in 
this  place  have  been  crowded  with  counsel  and  action  of  the 
most  vital  interest  and  consequence.  Perhaps  no  equal 
period  in  our  history  has  been  so  fruitful  of  important  re- 
forms in  our  economic  and  industrial  life  or  so  full  of  sig- 
nificant changes  in  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  our  political 
action.  We  have  sought  very  thoughtfully  to  set  our  house 
in  order,  correct  the  grosser  errors  and  abuses  of  our  indus- 
trial life,  liberate  and  quicken  the  processes  of  our  national 
genius  and  energy,  and  lift  our  politics  to  a  broader  view 
of  the  people's  essential  interests.  It  is  a  record  of  singular 
variety  and  singular  distinction.  But  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  review  it.  It  speaks  for  itself  and  will  be  of  increasing 
influence  as  the  years  go  by.  This  is  not  the  time  for  retro- 
spect. It  is  time,  rather,  to  speak  our  thoughts  and  purposes 
concerning  the  present  and  the  immediate  future. 

Although  we  have  centered  counsel  and  action  with  such 
unusual  concentration  and  success  upon  the  great  problems 
of  domestic  legislation  to  which  we  addressed  ourselves  four 
years  ago,  other  matters  have  more  and  more  forced  them- 
selves upon  our  attention,  matters  lying  outside  our  own 
life  as  a  nation  and  over  which  we  had  no  control,  but  which, 
despite  our  wish  to  keep  free  of  them,  have  drawn  us  more 
and  more  irresistibly  into  their  own  current  and  influence. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  avoid  them.  They  have  affected 
the  life  of  the  whole  world.  They  have  shaken  men  every- 
where with  a  passion  and  an  apprehension  they  never  knew 
before.  It  has  been  hard  to  preserve  calm  counsel  while  the 
thought  of  our  own  people  swayed  this  way  and  that  under 
their  influence.  We  are  a  composite  and  cosmopolitan  peo- 
ple. We  are  of  the  blood  of  all  the  nations  that  are  at  war. 
The  currents  of  our  thoughts  as  well  as  the  currents  of  our 
trade  run  quick  at  all  seasons  back  and  forth  between  us 
and  them.    The  war  inevitably  set  its  mark  from  the  first 


Mar.  5]    AMERICAN  POLITICAL  PRINCIPLES      185 

alike  upon  our  minds,  our  industries,  our  commerce,  our 
politics,  and  our  social  action.  To  be  indifferent  to  it  or 
independent  of  it  was  out  of  the  question. 

And  yet  all  the  while  we  have  been  conscious  that  we 
were  not  part  of  it.  In  that  consciousness,  despite  man}'' 
divisions,  we  have  drawn  closer  together.  We  have  beert 
deeply  wronged  upon  the  seas,  but  we  have  not  wished  to 
wrong  or  injure  in  return;  have  retained  throughout  the 
consciousness  of  standing  in  some  sort  apart,  intent  upon  an 
interest  that  transcended  the  immediate  issues  of  the  war 
itself.  As  some  of  the  injuries  done  us  have  become  intol- 
erable we  have  still  been  clear  that  we  wished  nothing  for 
ourselves  that  we  were  not  ready  to  demand  for  all  man- 
kind,— fair  dealing,  justice,  the  freedom  to  live  and  be  at 
ease  against  organized  wrong. 

It  is  in  this  spirit  and  with  this  thought  that  we  have 
grown  more  and  more  aware,  more  and  more  certain  that 
the  part  we  wished  to  play  was  the  part  of  those  who  mean 
to  vindicate  and  fortify  peace.  We  have  been  obliged  to 
arm  ourselves  to  make  good  our  claim  to  a  certain  minimum 
of  right  and  of  freedom  of  action.  We  stand  firm  in  armed 
neutrality  since  it  seems  that  in  no  other  way  can  we  demon- 
strate what  it  is  we  insist  upon  and  cannot  forego.  We  may 
even  be  drawn  on,  by  circumstances,  not  by  our  own  purpose 
or  desire,  to  a  more  active  assertion  of  our  rights  as  we  see 
them  and  a  more  immediate  association  with  the  great 
struggle  itself.  But  nothing  will  alter  our  thought  or  our 
purpose.  They  are  too  clear  to  be  obscured.  They  are  too 
deeply  rooted  in  the  principles  of  our  national  life  to  be 
alter^.  We  desire  neither  conquest  nor  advantage.  We 
wish  nothing  that  can  be  had  only  at  the  cost  of  another 
people.  We  have  always  professed  unselfish  purpose  and  we 
covet  the  opportunity  to  prove  that  our  professions  are 
sincere. 

There  are  many  things  still  to  do  at  home,  to  clarify  our 
own  politics  and  give  new  vitality  to  the  industrial  processes 
of  our  own  life,  and  we  shall  do  them  as  time  and  oppor- 
tunity serve;  but  we  realize  that  the  greatest  things  that 
remain  to  be  done  must  be  done  with  the  whole  world  for 
stage  and  in  cooperation  with  the  wide  and  universal  forces 


i86    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

of  mankind,  and  we  are  making  our  spirits  ready  for  those 
things.  They  will  follow  in  the  immediate  wake  of  the  war 
itself  and  will  set  civilization  up  again.  We  are  provincials 
no  longer.  The  tragical  events  of  the  thirty  months  of  vital 
turmoil  through  which  we  have  just  passed  have  made  us 
citizens  of  the  world.  There  can  be  no  turning  back.  Our 
own  fortunes  as  a  nation  are  involved,  whether  we  would 
have  it  so  or  not. 

And  yet  we  are  not  the  less  Americans  on  that  account. 
We  shall  be  the  more  American  if  we  but  rem.ain  true  to  the 
principles  in  which  we  have  been  bred.  They  are  not  the 
principles  of  a  province  or  of  a  single  continent.  We  have 
known  and  boasted  all  along  that  they  were  the  principles 
of  a  liberated  mankind.  These,  therefore,  are  the  things  we 
shall  stand  for,  whether  in  war  or  in  peace: 

That  all  nations  are  equally  interested  in  the  peace  of  the 
world  and  in  the  political  stability  of  free  peoples,  and  equally 
responsible  for  their  maintenance; 

That  the  essential  principle  of  peace  is  the  actual  equality 
of  nations  in  all  matters  of  right  or  privilege; 

That  peace  cannot  securely  or  justly  rest  upon  an  armed 
balance  of  power; 

That  governments  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed  and  that  no  other  powers  should 
be  supported  by  the  common  thought,  purpose,  or  power 
of  the  family  of  nations. 

That  the  seas  should  be  equally  free  and  safe  for  the  use 
of  all  peoples,  under  rules  set  up  by  common  agreement  and 
consent,  and  that,  so  far  as  practicable,  they  should  be 
accessible  to  all  upon  equal  terms; 

That  national  armaments  should  be  limited  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  national  order  and  domestic  safety; 

That  the  community  of  interest  and  of  power  upon  which 
peace  must  henceforth  depend  imposes  upon  each  nation  the 
duty  of  seeing  to  it  that  all  influences  proceeding  from  its 
o^>^.Ti  citizens  meant  to  encourage  or  assist  revolution  in 
other  states  should  be  sternly  and  effectually  suppressed  and 
prevented. 

I  need  not  argue  these  principles  to  you,  my  fellow  coun- 
trymen: they  are  your  ovvti,  part  and  parcel  of  your  own 


Mar.  5]    AMERICAN  POLITICAL  PRINCIPLES      187 

thinking  and  your  own  motive  in  affairs.  They  spring  up 
native  amongst  us.  Upon  this  as  a  platform  of  purpose 
and  of  action  we  can  stand  together. 

And  it  is  imperative  that  we  should  stand  together.  We 
are  being  forged  into  a  new  unity  amidst  the  fires  that  now 
blaze  throughout  the  world.  In  their  ardent  heat  we  shall, 
in  God's  providence,  let  us  hope,  be  purged  of  faction  and 
division,  purified  of  the  errant  humors  of  party  and  of 
private  interest,  and  shall  stand  forth  in  the  days  to  come 
with  a  new  dignity  of  national  pride  and  spirit.  Let  each 
man  see  to  it  that  the  dedication  is  in  his  own  heart,  the 
high  purpose  of  the  Nation  in  his  own  mind,  ruler  of  his 
own  will  and  desire. 

I  stand  here  and  have  taken  the  high  and  solemn  oath  to 
which  you  have  been  audience  because  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  chosen  me  for  this  august  delegation  of 
power  and  have  by  their  gracious  judgment  named  me 
their  leader  in  affairs.  I  know  now  what  the  task  means. 
I  realize  to  the  full  the  responsibility  which  it  involves.  I 
pray  God  I  may  be  given  the  wisdom  and  the  prudence  to  do 
my  duty  in  the  true  spirit  of  this  great  people.  I  am  their 
servant  and  can  succeed  only  as  they  sustain  and  guide  me 
by  their  confidence  and  their  counsel.  The  thing  I  shall 
count  upon,  the  thing  without  which  neither  counsel  nor 
action  will  avail,  is  the  unity  of  America, — an  America  united 
in  feeling,  in  purpose,  and  in  its  vision  of  duty,  of  oppor- 
tunity, and  of  service.  We  are  to  beware  of  all  men  who 
w^ould  turn  the  tr.nks  and  the  necessities  of  the  Nation  to 
their  owm  private  profit  or  use  them  for  the  building  up  of 
private  power;  beware  that  nd  faction  or  disloyal  intrigue 
break  the  harmony  or  embarrass  the  spirit  of  our  people; 
bev/are  that  our  Government  be  kept  pure  and  incorrupt  in 
all  its  parts.  United  alike  in  the  conception  of  our  duty  and 
in  the  high  resolve  to  perform  it  in  the  face  of  all  men,  let 
us  dedicate  ourselves  to  the  great  task  to  which  we  must 
now  set  our  hand.  For  myself  I  beg  your  tolerance,  your 
countenance,  and  your  united  aid.  The  shadows  that  now 
lie  dark  upon  our  path  will  soon  be  dispelled  and  we  shall 
walk  with  the  light  all  about  us  if  we  be  but  true  to  our- 
selves,— to  ourselves  as  we  have  wished  to  be  known  in  the 


i88    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

counsels  of  the  world  and  in  the  thought  of  all  those  who 
love  liberty  and  justice  and  the  right  exalted. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


57.    NECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY 

(April  2,  1917) 

Address  to  Congress 

I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session  be- 
cause there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of  policy  to  be 
made,  and  made  immediately,  which  it  was  neither  right  nor 
constitutionally  permissible  that  I  should  assume  the  respon- 
sibility of  making. 

On  the  third  of  February  last  I  cfficially  laid  before  you 
the  extraordinary  announcement  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government  that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  February  it 
was  its  purpose  to  put  aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of 
humanity  and  use  its  submarines  to  sink  every  vessel  that 
sought  to  approach  either  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  or  the  western  coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the  ports 
controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Mediter- 
ranean. That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  German 
submarine  warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since  April  of  Isist 
year  the  Imperial  Government  had  somewhat  restrained  the 
commanders  of  its  undersea  craft  in  conformity  with  its 
promise  then  given  to  us  that  passenger  boats  should  not  be 
sunk  and  that  due  warning  would  be  given  to  all  other  vessels 
which  its  submarines  might  seek  to  destroy,  when  no  resist- 
ance was  offered  or  escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that 
their  crews  were  given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their 
lives  in  their  open  boats.  The  precautions  taken  were 
meagre  and  haphazard  enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing 
instance  after  instance  in  the  progress  of  the  cruel  and 
unmanly  business,  but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was 
observed.  The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside. 
Vessels  of  every  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  character, 
their  cargo,  their  destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruth- 


Apr.  2]  NECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY  189 

lessly  sent  to  the  bottom  without  warning  and  without 
thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those  on  board,  the  vessels 
of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  those  of  belligerents.  Even 
hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to  the  sorely  bereaved 
and  stricken  people  of  Belgium,  though  the  latter  were  pro- 
vided with  safe  conduct  through  the  proscribed  areas  by  the 
German  Government  itself  and  were  distinguished  by  un- 
mistakable marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the  same 
reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of  principle. 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that  such  things 
would  in  fact  be  done  by  any  government  that  had  hitherto 
subscribed  to  the  humane  practices  of  civilized  nations. 
International  law  had  its  origin  in  the  attempt  to  set  up 
some  law  which  would  be  respected  and  observed  upon  the 
seas,  where  no  nation  had  right  of  dominion  and  where  lay 
the  free  highways  of  the  world.  By  painful  stage  after 
stage  has  that  law  been  built  up,  with  meagre  enough  results, 
indeed,  after  all  was  accomplished  that  could  be  accom- 
plished, but  always  with  a  clear  view,  at  least,  of  what  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  mankind  demanded.  This  minimum 
of  right  the  German  Government  has  swept  aside  under  the 
plea  of  retaliation  and  necessity  and  because  it  had  no 
weapons  which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these  which  it  is 
impossible  to  employ  as  it  is  employing  them  without  throw- 
ing to  the  winds  all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of  respect  for 
the  world.  I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property 
involved,  immense  and  serious  as  that  is,  but  only  of  the 
wanton  and  wholesale  destruction  of  the  lives  of  non-com- 
batants, men,  women,  and  children,  engaged  in  pursuits 
which  have  always,  even  in  the  darkest  periods  of  modem 
history,  been  deemed  innocent  and  legitimate.  Property  can 
be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peaceful  and  innocent  people  cannot 
be.  The  present  German  submarine  warfare  against  com- 
merce is  a  warfare  against  mankind. 

It  is  a  war  against  all  nations.  American  ships  have 
been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways  which  it  has  stirred 
us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and  people  of  other 
neutral  and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  and  overwhelmed 
in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no  dis- 
crimination.   The  challenge  is  to  all  mankind.    Each  nation 


iQO    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it.  The  choice  we 
mcike  for  ourselves  must  be  made  with  a  moderation  of 
counsel  and  a  temperateness  of  judgment  befitting  our  char- 
acter and  our  motives  as  a  nation.  We  must  put  excited 
feeling  away.  Our  motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  vic- 
torious assertion  of  the  physical  might  of  the  nation,  but  only 
the  vindication  of  right,  of  human  right,  of  which  we  are  only 
a  single  champion. 

When  1  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
February  last  I  thought  that  it  would  suffice  to  assert  our 
neutral  rights  with  arms,  our  right  to  use  the  seas  against 
unlawful  interference,  our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe 
against  unlawful  violence.  But  armed  neutrality,  it  now 
appears,  is  impracticable.  Because  submarines  are  in  effect 
outlaws  when  used  as  the  German  submarines  have  been  used 
against  merchant  shipping,  it  is  impossible  to  defend  ships 
against  their  attacks  as  the  laws  of  nations  has  assumed 
that  merchantmen  would  defend  themselves  against  priva- 
teers or  cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the  open  sea. 
It  is  common  prudence  in  such  circumstances,  grim  necessity 
indeed,  to  endeavor  to  destroy  them  before  they  have  shown 
their  own  intention.  They  must  be  dealt  with  upon  sight, 
if  dealt  with  at  all.  The  German  Government  denies  the 
right  of  neutrals  to  use  arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the 
sea  which  it  has  proscribed,  even  in  the  defense  of  rights 
which  no  modern  publicist  has  ever  before  questioned  their 
right  to  defend.  The  intimation  is  conveyed  that  the  armed 
guards  which  we  have  placed  on  our  merchant  ships  will  be 
treated  as  beyond  the  pale  of  lav/  and  subject  to  be  dealt 
with  as  pirates  would  be.  Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual 
enough  at  best;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of 
such  pretensions  it  is  worse  than  ineffectual:  it  is  likely  only 
to  produce  what  it  was  meant  to  prevent;  it  is  practically 
certain  to  draw  us  into  the  war  without  either  the  rights 
or  the  effectiveness  of  belligerents.  There  is  one  choice  we 
cannot  make,  we  are  incapable  of  making;  we  will  not  choose 
the  path  of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred  rights  of 
our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored  or  violated.  The 
wrongs  against  which  we  now  array  ourselves  are  no  common 
wrongs;  they  cut  to  the  very  roots  of  human  life. 


Apr.  2]  NECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY  191 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical 
character  of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the  grave  respon- 
sibilities which  it  involves,  but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to 
what  I  deem  my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that  the  Con- 
gress declare  the  recent  course  of  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war  against  the 
government  and  people  of  the  United  States;  that  it  for- 
m.ally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which  has  thus  been 
thrust  upon  it;  and  that  it  take  immediate  steps  not  only 
to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thorough  state  of  defense  but 
also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its  resources  to 
bring  the  Government  of  the  German  Empire  to  terms  and 
end  the  war. 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the  utmost 
practicable  cooperation  in  counsel  and  action  with  the  gov- 
ernments now  at  war  with  Germany,  and,  as  incident  to 
that,  the  extension  to  those  governments  of  the  most  liberal 
financial  credits,  in  order  that  our  resources  may  so  far  as 
possible  be  added  to  theirs.  It  will  involve  the  organiza- 
tion and  mobilization  of  all  the  material  resources  of  the 
country  to  supply  the  materials  of  war  and  serve  the  inci- 
dental needs  of  the  nation  in  the  most  abundant  and  yet 
the  most  economical  and  efficient  way  possible.  It  will  in- 
volve the  immediate  full  equipment  of  the  navy  in  all  respects 
but  particularly  in  supplying  it  with  the  best  means  of  deal- 
ing with  the  enemy's  submarines.  It  will  involve  the  imme- 
diate addition  to  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States 
already  provided  for  by  law  in  case  of  war  at  least  five 
hundred  thousand  men,  who  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  chosen 
upon  the  principle  of  universal  liability  to  service,  and  also 
the  authorization  of  subsequent  additional  increments  of 
equal  force  so  soon  as  they  may  be  needed  and  can  be 
handled  in  training.  It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the 
granting  of  adequate  credits  to  the  Government,  sustained, 
I  hope,  so  far  as  they  can  equitably  be  sustained  by  the 
present  generation,  by  well  conceived  taxation. 

I  say  sustained  so  far  as  may  be  equitable  by  taxation 
because  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  most  unwise  to 
base  the  credits  which  will  now  be  necessary  entirely  on 
money  borrowed.    It  is  our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  urge, 


192     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

to  protect  our  people  so  far  as  we  may  against  the  very 
serious  hardships  and  evils  which  would  be  likely  to  arise 
out  of  the  inflation  which  would  be  produced  by  vast  loans. 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these  things  are 
to  be  accomplished  we  should  keep  constantly  in  mind  the 
wisdom  of  interfering  as  little  as  possible  in  our  own  prepa- 
ration and  in  the  equipment  of  our  own  military  forces  with 
the  duty, — for  it  will  be  a  very  practical  duty, — of  supply- 
ing the  nations  already  at  war  with  Germany  with  the  ma- 
terials which  they  can  obtain  only  from  us  or  by  our  assist- 
ance. They  are  in  the  field  and  we  should  help  them  in 
every  way  to  be  effective  there. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through  the  several 
executive  departments  of  the  Government,  for  the  considera- 
tion of  your  committees,  measures  for  the  accomplishment 
of  the  several  objects  I  have  mentioned.  I  hope  that  it  will 
be  your  pleasure  to  deal  with  them  as  having  been  framed 
after  very  careful  thought  by  the  branch  of  the  Government 
upon  which  the  responsibility  of  conducting  the  war  and 
safeguarding  the  nation  will  most  directly  fall. 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  momentous  things, 
let  us  be  very  clear,  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the  world 
what  our  motives  and  our  objects  are.  My  own  thought 
has  not  been  driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal  course  by 
the  unhappy  events  of  the  last  two  months,  and  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  thought  of  the  nation  has  been  altered  or 
clouded  by  them.  I  have  exactly  the  same  things  in  mind 
now  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate  on  the 
twenty-second  of  January  last ;  the  same  that  I  had  in  mind 
when  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  third  of  February  and 
on  the  twenty-sixth  of  February.  Our  object  now,  as  then, 
is  to  vindicate  the  principles  of  peace  and  justice  in  the  life 
of  the  world  as  against  selfish  and  autocratic  power  and  to 
set  up  amongst  the  really  free  and  self -governed  peoples  of 
the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  of  action  as  vnll 
henceforth  ensure  the  observance  of  those  principles.  Neu- 
trality is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where  the  peace  of 
the  world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the 
menace  to  that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of 
autocratic  governments  backed  by  organized  force  which  is 


Apr.  2]  NECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY  193 

controlled  wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the  vnW  of  their 
people.  We  have  seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  circum- 
stances. We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which  it  will 
be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of  conduct  and  of  re- 
sponsibility for  wrong  done  shall  be  observed  among  nations 
and  their  governments  that  are  observed  among  the  individ- 
ual citizens  of  civilized  states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have 
no  feeling  towards  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and  friend- 
ship. It  was  not  upon  their  impulse  that  their  government 
acted  in  entering  this  war.  It  was  not  with  their  previous 
knowledge  or  approval.  It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as 
wars  used  to  be  determined  upon  in  the  old,  unhappy  days 
when  peoples  were  nowhere  consulted  by  their  rulers  and 
wars  were  provoked  and  waged  in  the  interest  of  dynasties 
or  of  little  groups  of  ambitious  men  who  were  accustomed  to 
use  their  fellow  men  as  pawns  and  tools.  Self-governed 
nations  do  not  fill  their  neighbor  states  with  spies  or  set  the 
course  of  intrigue  to  bring  about  some  critical  posture  of 
affairs  which  will  give  them  an  opportunity  to  strike  and 
make  conquest.  Such  designs  can  be  successfully  worked 
out  only  under  cover  and  where  no  one  has  the  right  to  ask 
questions.  Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or  ag- 
gression, carried,  it  may  be,  from  generation  to  generation, 
can  be  worked  out  and  kept  from  the  light  only  within 
the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind  the  carefully  guarded  con- 
fidences of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class.  They  are  happily 
impossible  where  public  opinion  commands  and  insists  upon 
full  information  concerning  all  the  nation's  affairs. 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained  ex- 
cept by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations.  No  autocratic 
government  could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it  or  observe 
its  covenants.  It  must  be  a  league  of  honor,  a  partnership 
of  opinion.  Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals  away;  the  plottings 
of  inner  circles  who  could  plan  what  they  would  and  render 
account  to  no  one  would  be  a  corruption  seated  at  its  very 
heart.  Only  free  peoples  can  hold  their  purpose  and  their 
honor  steady  to  a  common  end  and  prefer  the  interests  of 
mankind  to  any  narrow  interest  of  their  own. 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance  has  been 


194     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

added  to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace  of  the  world  by  the 
wonderful  and  heartening  things  that  have  been  happening 
within  the  last  few  weeks  in  Russia?  Russia  was  known  by 
those  w'.o  knew  it  best  to  have  been  always  in  fact  demo- 
cratic at  heart,  in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her  thought,  in  all 
the  intimate  relationships  of  her  people  that  spoke  their 
natural  instinct,  their  habitual  attitude  towards  life.  The 
autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of  her  political  structure, 
long  as  it  had  stood  and  terrible  as  was  the  reality  of  its 
power,  was  not  in  fact  Russian  in  origin,  character,  or  pur- 
pose; and  now  it  has  been  shaken  off  and  the  great,  gen- 
erous Russian  people  have  been  added  in  all  their  naive 
majesty  and  might  to  the  forces  that  are  fighting  for  freedom 
in  the  world,  for  justice,  and  for  peace.  Here  is  a  fit  partner 
for  a  League  of  Honor. 

One  of  the  things  that  has  served  to  convince  us  that  the 
Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could  never  be  our  friend  is 
that  from  the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has  filled  our 
unsuspecting  communities  and  even  our  offices  of  govern- 
ment with  spies  and  set  criminal  intrigues  everywhere  afoot 
against  our  national  unity  of  counsel,  our  peace  within  and 
without,  our  industries  and  our  commerce.  Indeed  it  is  now 
evident  that  its  spies  were  here  even'before  the  war  began; 
and  it  is  unhappily  not  a  matter  of  conjecture  but  a  fact 
proved  in  our  courts  of  justice  that  the  intrigues  which  have 
more  than  once  come  perilously  near  to  disturbing  the  peace 
and  dislocating  the  industries  of  the  country  have  been  car- 
ried on  at  the  instigation,  with  the  support,  and  even  under 
the  personal  direction  of  official  agents  of  the  Imperial 
Government  accredited  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  Even  in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to  extir- 
pate them  we  have  sought  to  put  the  most  generous  inter- 
pretation possible  upon  them  because  we  knew  that  their 
source  lay,  not  in  any  hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  Ger- 
man people  towards  us  (who  were,  no  doubt,  as  ignorant  of 
them  as  we  ourselves  were),  but  only  in  the  selfish  designs 
of  a  Government  that  did  what  it  pleased  and  told  its  people 
nothing.  But  they  have  played  their  part  in  serving  to  con- 
vince us  at  last  that  that  Government  entertains  no  real 
friendship  for  us  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace  and 


Apr.  2]  xNECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY  195 

security  at  its  convenience.  That  it  means  to  stir  up  enemies 
against  us  at  our  very  doors  the  intercepted  note  to  the 
German  Minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose  because 
we  know  that  in  such  a  government,  following  such  methods, 
we  can  never  have  a  friend;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its 
organized  power,  always  lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we 
know  not  what  purpose,  there  can  be  no  assured  security  for 
the  democratic  governments  of  the  world.  We  are  now  about 
to  accept  gauge  of  battle  with  this  natural  foe  to  liberty 
and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the  nation 
to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power.  We  are 
glad,  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pre- 
tense about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the 
world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  peo- 
ples included:  for  the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small  and 
the  privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life 
and  of  obedience.  The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democ- 
racy. Its  peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  tested  foundations 
of  political  liberty.  We  must  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve. 
We  desire  no  conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indemni- 
ties for  ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices 
we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  but  one  of  the  champions  of 
the  rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied  when  those 
rights  have  been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the  freedom 
of  nations  can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor  and  without  selfish 
object,  seeking  nothing  for  ourselves  but  what  we  shall  wish 
to  share  with  all  free  peoples,  we  shall,  I  feel  confident,  con- 
duct our  operations  as  belligerents  without  passion  and  our- 
selves observe  with  proud  punctilio  the  principles  of  right 
and  of  fair  play  we  profess  to  be  fighting  for. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  governments  allied  with  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Germany  because  they  have  not 
made  war  upon  us  or  challenged  us  to  defend  our  right  and 
our  honor.  The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  has,  indeed, 
avowed  its  unqualified  endorsement  and  acceptance  of  the 
reckless  and  lawless  submarine  warfare  adopted  now  without 
disguise  by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  and  it  has 
therefore  not  been  possible  for  this  Government  to  receive 


196    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

Count  Tamowski,  the  Ambassador  recently  accredited  to 
this  Government  by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Government  of 
Austria-Himgary;  but  that  Government  has  not  actually 
engaged  in  warfare  against  citizens  of  the  United  States  on 
the  seas,  and  I  take  the  liberty,  for  the  present  at  least,  of 
postponing  a  discussion  of  our  relations  with  the  authorities 
at  Vienna.  We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are  clearly 
forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means  of  defending 
our  rights. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves  as 
belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness  because  we 
act  without  animus,  not  in  enmity  towards  a  people  or  with 
the  desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  disadvantage  upon  them, 
but  only  in  armed  opposition  to  an  irresponsible  government 
which  has  thrown  aside  all  considerations  of  humanity  and 
of  right  and  is  running  amuck.  We  are,  let  me  say  again, 
the  sincere  friends  of  the  German  people,  and  shall  desire 
nothing  so  much  as  the  early  reestablishment  of  intimate 
relations  of  mutual  advantage  between  us, — ^however  hard 
it  may  be  for  them,  for  the  time  being,  to  believe  that  this 
is  spoken  from  our  hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their  present 
government  through  all  these  bitter  months  because  of  that 
friendship, — exercising  a  patience  and  forbearance  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  impossible.  We  shall,  happily, 
still  have  an  opportunity  to  prove  that  friendship  in  our 
daily  attitude  and  actions  towards  the  millions  of  men  and 
women  of  German  birth  and  native  sympathy  who  live 
amongst  us  and  share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be  proud  to 
prove  it  towards  all  who  are  in  fact  loyal  to  their  neighbors 
and  to  the  Government  in  the  hour  of  test.  They  arc,  most 
of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as  if  they  had  never 
known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance.  They  will  be  prompt 
to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and  restraining  the  few  who 
may  be  of  a  different  mind  and  purpose.  If  there  should  be 
disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt  with  with  a  firm  hand  of  stern 
repression;  but,  if  it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only 
here  and  there  and  without  countenance  except  from  a  law- 
less and  malignant  few. 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty.  Gentlemen  of  the 
Congress,  which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing  you. 


Apr.  2]  NECESSITY  OF  WAR  AGAINST  GERMANY  197 

There  are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacri- 
fice ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great 
peaceful  people  into  war,  into  the  most  terrible  and  disas- 
trous of  all  wars,  civilization  itself  seeming  to  be  in  the 
balance:  But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we 
shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried 
nearest  our  hearts, — for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those 
who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  govern- 
ments, for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small  nations,  for  a 
universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  peoples 
as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the 
world  itself  at  last  free.  -To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate 
our  lives  and  our  fortunes,  everything  that  we  are  and  every- 
thing that  we  have,  with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that 
the  day  has  come  when  America  is  privileged  to  spend  her 
blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her  birth 
and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has  treasured.  God 
helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


58.    THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE  MUST  SUPPORT  THE 

WAR 

(April  16,  19 1 7) 

Public  Appeal  by  the  President  to  His  Fellow 
Countrymen 

The  entrance  of  our  own  beloved  country  into  the  grim 
and  terrible  war  for  democracy  and  human  rights  which  has 
shaken  the  world  creates  so  many  problems  of  national  life 
and  action  which  call  for  immediate  consideration  and  settle- 
ment that  I  hope  you  will  permit  me  to  address  to  you  a  few 
words  of  earnest  counsel  and  appeal  with  regard  to  them. 

We  are  rapidly  putting  our  navy  upon  an  effective  war 
footing  and  are  about  to  create  and  equip  a  great  army,  but 
these  are  the  simplest  parts  of  the  great  task  to  which  we 
have  addressed  ourselves.  There  is  not  a  single  selfish  ele- 
ment, so  far  as  I  can  see,  in  the  cause  we  are  fighting  for. 


198     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

We  are  fighting  for  what  we  believe  and  wish  to  be  the  rights 
of  mankind  and  for  the  future  peace  and  security  of  the 
world.  To  do  this  great  thing  worthily  and  successfully  we 
must  devote  ourselves  to  the  service  without  regard  to  profit 
or  material  advantage  and  with  an  energy  and  intelligence 
that  will  rise  to  the  level  of  the  enterprise  itself.  We  must 
realize  to  the  full  how  great  the  task  is  and  how  many 
things,  and  how  many  kinds  and  elements  of  capacity  and 
service  and  self-sacrifice,  it  involves. 

These,  then,  are  the  things  we  must  do,  and  do  well,  be- 
sides fighting, — the  things  without  which  mere  fighting  would 
be  fruitless: 

We  must  supply  abundant  food  for  ourselves  and  for  our 
armies  and  our  seamen  not  only,  but  also  for  a  large  part  of 
the  nations  with  whom  we  have  now  made  common  cause, 
in  whose  support  and  by  whose  sides  we  shall  be  fighting; 

We  must  supply  ships  by  the  hundreds  out  of  our  ship- 
yards to  carry  to  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  submarines  or  no 
submarines.  What  will  every  day  be  needed  there,  and  abun- 
dant materials  out  of  our  fields  and  our  mines  and  our 
factories  with  which  not  only  to  clothe  and  equip  our  own 
forces  on  land  and  sea  but  also  to  clothe  and  support  our 
people  for  whom  the  gallant  fellows  under  arms  can  no 
longer  work,  to  help  clothe  and  equip  the  armies  with  which 
we  are  cooperating  in  Europe,  and  to  keep  the  looms  and 
manufactories  there  in  raw  material;  coal  to  keep  the  fires 
going  in  ships  at  sea  and  in  the  furnaces  of  hundreds  of 
factories  across  the  sea;  steel  out  of  which  to  make  arms 
and  ammunition  both  here  and  there;  rails  for  worn-out 
railways  back  of  the  fighting  fronts;  locomotives  and  rolling 
stock  to  take  the  place  of  those  every  day  going  to  pieces; 
mules,  horses,  cattle  for  labor  and  for  military  service; 
everything  with  which  the  people  of  England  and  France 
and  Italy  and  Russia  have  usually  supplied  themselves  but 
can  not  now  afford  the  men,  the  materials,  or  the  machinery 
to  make. 

It  is  evident  to  every  thinking  man  that  our  industries, 
on  the  farms,  in  the  shipyards,  in  the  mines,  in  the  factories, 
must  be  made  more  prolific  and  more  efficient  than  ever 
and  that  they  must  be  more  economically  managed  and 


Apr.  1 6]     PEOPLE  MUST  SUPPORT  THE  WAR       199 

better  adapted  to  the  particular  requirements  of  our  task 
than  they  have  been;  and  what  I  want  to  say  is  that  the 
men  and  the  women  who  devote  their  thought  and  their 
energy  to  these  things  will  be  serving  the  country  and  con- 
ducting the  fight  for  peace  and  freedom  just  as  truly  and 
just  as  effectively  as  the  men  on  the  battlefield  or  in  the 
trenches.  The  industrial  forces  of  the  country,  men  and 
women  alike,  will  be  a  great  national,  a  great  international, 
Service  Army, — a  notable  and  honored  host  engaged  in  the 
service  of  the  nation  and  the  world,  the  efficient  friends  and 
saviors  of  free  men  everywhere.  Thousands,  nay,  hundreds 
of  thousands,  of  men  otherwise  liable  to  military  service  will 
of  right  and  of  necessity  be  excused  from  that  service  and 
assigned  to  the  fundamental,  sustaining  work  of  the  fields 
and  factories  and  mines,  and  they  will  be  as  much  part  of 
the  great  patriotic  forces  of  the  nation  as  the  men  under 
fire. 

I  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of  addressing  this  word  to 
the  farmers  of  the  country  and  to  all  who  work  on  the 
farms:  The  supreme  need  of  our  own  nation  and  of  the 
nations  with  which  we  are  cooperating  is  an  abundance  of 
supplies,  and  especially  of  food  stuffs.  The  importance  of 
an  adequate  food  supply,  especially  for  the  present  year, 
is  superlative.  Without  abundant  food,  alike  for  the  armies 
and  the  peoples  now  at  war,  the  whole  great  enterprise  upon 
which  we  have  embarked  will  break  down  and  fail.  The 
world's  food  reserves  are  low.  Not  only  during  the  present 
emergency  but  for  some  time  after  peace  shall  have  come 
both  our  own  people  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  people 
of  Europe  must  rely  upon  the  harvests  in  America.  Upon 
the  farmers  of  this  country,  therefore,  in  large  measure,  rests 
the  fate  of  the  war  and  the  fate  of  the  nations.  May  the 
nation  not  count  upon  them  to  omit  no  step  that  will  increase 
the  production  of  their  land  or  that  will  bring  about  the 
most  effectual  cooperation  in  the  sale  and  distribution  of 
their  products?  The  time  is  short.  It  is  of  the  most  im- 
perative importance  that  everything  possible  be  done  and 
done  immediately  to  make  sure  of  large  harvests.  I  call 
upon  young  men  and  old  alike  and  upon  the  able-bodied 
boys  of  the  land  to  accept  and  act  upon  this  duty — to  turn 


200    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 17 

in  hosts  to  the  farms  and  make  certain  that  no  pains  and 
no  labor  is  lacking  in  this  great  matter. 

I  particularly  appeal  to  the  farmers  of  the  South  to  plant 
abundant  food  stuffs  as  well  as  cotton.  They  can  show  their 
patriotism  in  no  better  or  more  convincing  way  than  by 
resisting  the  great  temptation  of  the  present  price  of  cotton 
and  helping,  helping  upon  a  great  scale,  to  feed  the  nation 
and  the  peoples  everywhere  who  are  fighting  for  their  liberties 
and  for  our  own.  The  variety  of  their  crops  will  be  the 
visible  measure  of  their  comprehension  of  their  national  duty. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  govern- 
ments of  the  several  States  stand  ready  to  cooperate.  They 
will  do  everything  possible  to  assist  farmers  in  securing  an 
adequate  supply  of  seed,  an  adequate  force  of  laborers  when 
they  are  most  needed,  at  harvest  time,  and  the  means  of 
expediting  shipments  of  fertilizers  and  farm  machinery,  as 
well  as  of  the  crops  themselves  when  harvested.  The  course 
of  trade  shall  be  as  unhampered  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it 
and  there  shall  be  no  unwarranted  manipulation  of  the 
nation's  food  supply  by  those  who  handle  it  on  its  way  to 
the  consumer.  This  is  our  opportunity  to  demonstrate  the 
efficiency  of  a  great  Democracy  and  we  shall  not  fall  short 
of  it! 

This  let  me  say  to  the  middlemen  of  every  sort,  whether 
they  are  handling  our  food  stuffs  or  our  raw  materials  of 
manufacture  or  the  products  of  our  mills  and  factories:  The 
eyes  of  the  country  will  be  especially  upon  you.  This  is 
your  opportunity  for  signal  service,  efficient  and  disinter- 
ested. The  country  expects  you,  as  it  expects  all  others,  to 
forego  profits,  to  organize  and  expedite  shipments  of  sup- 
plies of  every  kind,  but  especially  of  food,  with  an  eye  to 
the  service  you  are  rendering  and  in  the  spirit  of  those  who 
enlist  in  the  ranks,  for  their  people,  not  for  themselves.  I 
shall  confidently  expect  you  to  deserve  and  win  the  con- 
fidence of  people  of  every  sort  and  station. 

To  the  men  who  run  the  railways  of  the  country,  whether 
they  be  managers  or  operative  employees,  let  me  say  that 
the  railways  are  the  arteries  of  the  nation's  life  and  that 
upon  them  rests  the  immense  responsibility  of  seeing  to  it 
that  those  arteries  suffer  no  obstruction  of  any  kind,  no 


Apr.  1 6]     PEOPLE  MUST  SUPPORT  THE  WAR      201 

inefficiency  or  slackened  power.  To  the  merchant  let  me 
suggest  the  motto,  "Small  profits  and  quick  service;"  and  to 
the  shipbuilder  the  thought  that  the  life  of  the  war  depends 
upon  him.  The  food  and  the  war  supplies  must  be  carried 
across  the  seas  no  matter  how  many  ships  are  sent  to  the 
bottom.  The  places  of  those  that  go  down  must  be  sup- 
plied and  supplied  at  once.  To  the  miner  let  me  say  that 
he  stands  where  the  farmer  does:  the  work  of  the  world 
waits  on  him.  If  he  slackens  or  fails,  armies  and  statesmen 
are  helpless.  He  also  is  enilsted  in  the  great  Service  Army. 
The  manufacturer  does  not  need  to  be  told,  I  hope,  that  the 
nation  looks  to  him  to  speed  and  perfect  every  process; 
and  I  want  only  to  remind  his  employees  that  their  service 
is  absolutely  indispensable  and  is  counted  on  by  every  man 
who  loves  the  country  and  its  liberties. 

Let  me  suggest,  also,  that  everyone  who  creates  or  culti- 
vates a  garden  helps,  and  helps  greatly,  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  feeding  of  the  nations;  and  that  every  housewife  who 
practices  strict  economy  puts  herself  in  the  ranks  of  those 
who  serve  the  nation.  This  is  the  time  for  America  to 
correct  her  unpardonable  fault  of  wastefulness  and  extrava- 
gance.  Let  every  man  and  every  woman  assume  the  duty 
of  careful,  provident  use  and  expenditure  as  a  public  duty, 
as  a  dictate  of  patriotism  which  no  one  can  now  expect  ever 
to  be  excused  or  forgiven  for  ignoring. 

In  the  hope  that  this  statement  of  the  needs  of  the  nation 
and  of  the  world  in  this  hour  of  supreme  crisis  may  stimu- 
late those  to  whom  it  comes  and  remind  all  who  need  re- 
minder of  the  solemn  duties  of  a  time  such  as  the  world  has 
never  seen  before,  I  beg  that  all  editors  and  publishers  every- 
where will  give  as  prominent  publication  and  as  wide  circula- 
tion as  possible  to  this  appeal.  I  venture  to  suggest,  also, 
to  all  advertising  agencies  that  they  would  perhaps  render  a 
very  substantial  and  timely  service  to  the  country  if  they 
would  give  it  widespread  repetition.  And  I  hope  that  clergy- 
men will  not  think  the  theme  of  it  an  unworthy  or  inappro- 
priate subject  of  comment  and  homily  from  their  pulpits. 

The  supreme  test  of  the  nation  has  come.  We  must  all 
speak,  act,  and  serve  together! 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


202    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

59.     THE   RED   CROSS 

(May  12,  1917) 

[Address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Red  Cross  Building 
IN  Washington 

It  gives  me  a  very  deep  gratification  as  the  titular  head 
^h  the  American  Red  Cross  to  accept  in  the  name  of  that 
'Association  this  significant  and  beautiful  gift,  the  gift  of 
[;^e  Government  and  of  private  individuals  who  have  con- 
ceived their  duty  in  a  noble  spirit  and  upon  a  great  scale. 
St  seems  to  me  that  the  architecture  of  the  building,  to  which 
{the  secretary  alluded,  suggests  something  very  significant. 

There  are  few  buildings  in  Washington  more  simple  i» 
their  lines  and  in  their  ornamentation  than  the  beautiful 
building  we  are  dedicating  this  evening.  It  breathes  a 
spirit  of  modesty  and  seems  to  adorn  duty  with  its  proper 
garment  of  beauty.  It  is  significant  that  it  should  be  dedi- 
cated to  women  who  served  to  alleviate  suffering  and  com- 
fort those  who  were  in  need  during  our  Civil  War,  because 
their  thoughtful,  disinterested,  self-sacrificing  devotion  is  the 
spirit  which  should  always  illustrate  the  services  of  the  Red 
Cross. 

The  Red  Cross  needs  at  this  time  more  than  it  ever  needed 
before  the  comprehending  support  of  the  American  people 
and  all  the  facilities  which  could  be  placed  at  its  disposal  to 
perform  its  duties  adequately  and  efficiently.  I  believe  that 
Ihe  American  people  perhaps  hardly  yet  realize  the  sacri- 
fices and  sufferings  that  are  before  them.  We  thought  the 
scale  of  our  Civil  War  was  unprecedented,  but  in  compari- 
son with  the  struggle  into  which  we  have  now  entered  the 
Civil  War  seems  almost  insignificant  in  its  proportions  and 
in  its  expenditure  of  treasure  and  of  blood.  And  therefore 
it  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  that  we  should  at 
the  outset  see  to  it  that  the  American  Red  Cross  is  equipped 
and  prepared  for  the  things  that  lie  before  it. 

It  will  be  our  instrument  to  do  the  works  of  alleviation 
and  mercy  which  will  attend  this  struggle.  Of  course,  the 
scale  upon  which  it  shall  act  will  be  greater  than  the  scale 


May   12]  THE  RED   CROSS  203 

of  any  other  duty  that  it  has  ever  attempted  to  perform. 
It  is  in  recognition  of  that  fact  that  the  American  Red 
Cross  has  just  added  to  its  organization  a  small  body  of 
men  whom  it  has  chosen  to  call  its  war  council — not  be- 
cause they  are  to  counsel  war,  but  because  they  are  to  serve 
in  this  special  war  those  purposes  of  counsel  which  have 
become  so  imperatively  necessary.  Their  first  duty  will  Le 
to  raise  a  great  fund  out  of  which  to  draw  the  resources 
for  the  performance  of  their  duty,  an  J  I  do  not  believe  tha. 
it  will  be  necessary  to  appeal  to  the  American  people  to  re- 
spond to  their  call  for  funds,  because  the  heart  of  this  coun- 
try is  in  this  war,  and  if  the  heart  of  the  country  is  in  the 
war,  its  heart  will  express  itself  in  the  gifts  that  will  be 
poured  out  for  these  humane  purposes.  I  say  the  heart  of 
the  country  is  in  this  war  because  it  would  not  have  gone 
into  it  if  its  heart  had  not  been  prepared  for  it.  It  would 
not  have  gone  into  it  if  it  had  not  first  believed  that  here 
was  an  opportunity  to  express  the  character  of  the  United 
States.  We  have  gone  in  with  no  special  grievance  of  our 
own,  because  we  have  always  said  that  we  were  the  friends 
and  the  servants  of  mankind. 

We  look  for  no  profit.  We  look  for  no  advantage.  We 
will  accept  no  advantage  out  of  this  war.  We  go  because 
we  believe  that  the  very  principles  upon  which  the  American 
Republic  was  founded  are  now  at  stake  and  must  be  vindi- 
cated. In  such  a  contest,  therefore,  we  shall  not  fail  to  re- 
spond to  the  call  to  service  that  comes  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  this  particular  organization.  And  I  think  it  not 
inappropriate  to  say  this:  There  will  be  many  expressions  of 
the  spirit  of  sympathy  and  mercy  and  philanthropy,  and  I 
think  that  it  is  very  necessary  that  we  should  not  disperse 
our  activities  in  those  lines  too  much;  that  we  should  keep 
constantly  in  view  the  desire  to  have  the  utmost  concen- 
tration and  efficiency  of  effort,  and  1  hope  the  most,  if  not 
all  of  the  philanthropic  activities  of  this  war  may  be  exer- 
cised if  not  through  the  Red  Cross,  then  through  some 
already-constituted  and  experienced  organization. 

This  is  no  war  for  amateurs.  This  is  no  war  for  mere 
spontaneous  impulse.  It  means  ,'];rim  business  on  every  side 
of  it,  and  it  is  the  mere  cour^^:^  of  orudence  that  in  our 


204     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

philanthropy  as  well  as  in  our  fighting  we  should  act  through 
the  instrumentalities  already  prepared  to  our  hand  and 
already  experienced  in  the  tasks  which  are  going  to  be 
assigned  to  them.  This  should  be  merely  the  expression 
of  the  practical  genius  of  America  itself,  and  I  believe 
that  the  practical  genius  of  America  will  dictate  that  the 
efforts  in  this  war  in  this  particular  field  should  be  con- 
centrated in  experienced  hands  as  our  efforts  in  other  fields 
will  be. 

There  is  another  thing  that  is  significant  and  delightful 
to  my  thought  about  the  fact  that  this  building  should  be 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  women  both  of  the  North 
and  of  the  South.  It  is  a  sort  of  landmark  of  the  unity  to 
which  the  people  have  been  brought,  so  far  as  any  old  ques- 
tion which  tore  our  hearts  in  days  gone  by  is  concerned; 
and  I  pray  God  that  the  outcome  of  this  struggle  may  be 
that  every  other  element  of  difference  amongst  us  will  be 
obliterated  and  that  some  day  historians  will  remember  these 
momentous  years  as  the  years  which  made  a  single  people 
out  of  the  great  body  of  those  who  call  themselves  Ameri- 
cans. The  evidences  are  already  many  that  this  is  happen- 
ing. The  divisions  which  were  predicted  have  not  occurred 
and  will  not  occur.  The  spirit  of  this  people  is  already 
united,  and  when  effort  and  suffering  and  sacrifice  have 
completed  the  imion,  men  will  no  longer  speak  of  any  lines 
either  of  race  or  of  association  cutting  athwart  the  great 
body  of  this  Nation.  So  that  I  feel  that  we  are  now  begin- 
ning the  processes  which  will  some  day  require  anotlier 
beautiful  memorial  erected  to  those  whose  hearts  uniting 
imited  America. 

Congressional  Record,  LV,  2500. 

60.    OBJECTS   IN   GOING  TO  WAR 

(May  22,  1917) 

Letter  to  Representative  Heflin 

ft  is  incomprehensible  to  me  how  any  frank  or  honest 
person  could  doubt  or  question  my  position  with  regard  to 


May  22]         OBJECTS  IN  GOING  TO  WAR  205 

the  war  and  its  objects.  I  have  again  and  again  stated  the 
very  serious  and  long-continued  wrongs  which  the  Imperial 
German  Government  has  perpetrated  against  the  rights,  the 
commerce,  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The  list 
is  long  and  overwhelming.  No  nation  that  respected  itself 
or  the  rights  of  humanity  could  have  borne  those  wrongs  any 
longer. 

Our  objects  in  going  into  the  war  have  been  stated  with 
equal  clearness.  The  whole  of  the  conception  which  I  take 
to  be  the  conception  of  our  fellow  countrymen  with  regard 
to  the  outcome  of  the  war  and  the  terms  of  its  settlement  I 
set  forth  with  the  utmost  explicitness  in  an  address  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  on  the  2 2d  of  January  last. 
Again,  in  my  message  to  Congress  on  the  2d  of  April  last 
those  objects  were  stated  in  unmistakable  terms.  I  can  con- 
ceive no  purpose  in  seeking  to  becloud  this  matter  except  the 
purpose  of  weakening  the  hands  of  the  Government  and 
making  the  part  which  the  United  States  is  to  play  in  this 
I  great  struggle  for  human  liberty  an  inefficient  and  hesitating 
part.  We  have  entered  the  war  for  our  own  reasons  and 
with  our  own  objects  clearly  stated,  and  shall  forget  neither 
the  reasons  nor  the  objects.  There  is  no  hate  in  our  hearts 
for  the  German  people,  but  there  is  a  resolve  which  cannot 
be  shaken  even  by  misrepresentation  to  overcome  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  autocratic  Government  which  acts  upon  pur- 
poses to  which  the  German  people  have  never  consented. 

Official  Bulletin y  May  23,  19 17. 


61.    NEED  OF  A  CENSORSHIP  LAW 

(May  22,  1917) 

Letter  to  Representative  Webb 

I  have  been  very  much  surprised  to  find  several  of  the 
public  prints  stating  that  the  administration  had  abandoned 
the  position  which  it  so  distinctly  took,  and  still  holds,  that 
authority  to  exercise  censorship  over  the  press  to  the  extent 
that  that  censorship  is  embodied  in  the  recent  action  of  the 


2o6    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

House  of  Representatives  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
public  safety.  It,  of  course,  has  not  been  abandoned,  because 
the  reasons  still  exist  why  such  authority  is  necessary  for 
the  protection  of  the  Nation. 

I  have  every  confidence  that  the  great  majority  of  the; 
newspapers  of  the  country  will  observe  a  patriotic  reticence! 
about  everything  whose  publication  could  be  of  injury,  but 
in  every  country  there  are  some  persons  in  a  position  to  do, 
mischief  in  this  field  who  can  not  be  relied  upon  and  whose 
interests  or  desires  will  lead  to  actions  on  their  part  highly 
dangerous  to  the  Nation  in  the  midst  of  a  war.  I  want  to 
say  again  that  it  seems  to  me  imperative  that  powers  of  this 
sort  should  be  granted. 

Congressional  Record,  LV,  3144. 


62.    FRIENDSHIP  WITH  RUSSIA 

(May  26,  1917) 
Cablegram  to  Russia 

In  view  of  the  approaching  visit  of  the  American  delega- 
tion to  Russia  to  express  the  deep  friendship  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  for  the  people  of  Russia  and  to  discuss  the  best 
and  most  practical  means  of  cooperation  between  the  two 
peoples  in  carrying  the  present  struggle  for  the  freedom  of 
all  peoples  to  a  successful  consummation,  it  seems  oppor- 
tune and  appropriate  that  I  should  state  again,  in  the  light 
of  this  new  partnership,  the  objects  the  United  States  has 
had  in  mind  in  entering  the  war.  Those  objects  have  been 
very  much  beclouded  during  the  past  few  weeks  by  mis- 
taken and  misleading  statements,  and  the  issues  at  stake 
are  too  momentous,  too  tremendous,  too  significant  for  the 
whole  human  race  to  permit  any  misinterpretations  or  mis- 
understandings, however  slight,  to  remain  imcorrected  for  a 
moment. 

The  war  has  begun  to  go  against  Germany,  and  in  their 
desperate  desire  to  escape  the  inevitable  ultimate  defeat, 
those  who  are  in  authority  in  Germany  are  using  every  pos- 


May  26]  FRIENDSHIP  WITH  RUSSIA  207 

sible  instrumentality,  are  making  use  even  of  the  influencG 
of  groups  and  parties  among  their  own  subjects  to  whom 
they  have  never  been  just  or  fair,  or  even  tolerant,  to  pro- 
mote a  propaganda  on  both  sides  of  the  sea  which  will  pre- 
serve for  them  their  influence  at  home  and  their  power 
abroad,  to  the  undoing  of  the  very  men  they  are  using. 

The  position  of  America  in  this  war  is  so  clearly  avowed 
that  no  man  can  be  excused  for  mistaking  it.  She  seeks  no 
material  profit  or  aggrandizement  of  any  kind.  She  is  fight- 
ing for  no  advantage  or  selfish  object  of  her  own,  but  for 
the  liberation  of  peoples  everywhere  from  the  aggressions  of 
autocratic  force.  The  ruling  classes  in  Germany  have  be- 
gun of  late  to  profess  a  like  liberality  and  justice  of  pur- 
pose, but  only  to  preserve  the  power  they  have  set  up  in 
Germany  and  the  selfish  advantages  which  they  have 
wrongly  gained  for  themselves  and  their  private  projects 
of  power  all  the  way  from  Berlin  to  Bagdad  and  beyond. 
Government  after  Government  has  by  their  influence,  with- 
out open  conquest  of  its  territory,  been  linked  together  in  a 
net  of  intrigue  directed  against  nothing  less  than  the  peace 
and  liberty  of  the  world.  The  meshes  of  that  intrigue  must 
be  broken,  but  can  not  be  broken  unless  wrongs  already 
done  are  undone,  and  adequate  measures  must  be  tal^en  to 
prevent  it  from  ever  again  being  rewoven  or  repaired. 

Of  course,  the  Imperial  German  Government  and  those 
w^hom  it  is  using  for  their  ovm  undoing  are  seeking  to  obtain 
pledges  that  the  war  will  end  in  the  restoration  of  the  status 
quo  ante.  It  was  the  status  quo  ante  out  of  which  this  iniqui- 
tous war  issued  forth,  the  power  of  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment within  the  Empire  and  its  widespread  domination 
and  influence  outside  of  that  Empire.  That  status  must  be 
altered  in  such  fashion  as  to  prevent  any  such  hideous  thing 
from  ever  happening  again. 

We  are  fighting  for  the  liberty,  the  self-government,  and 
the  undictated  development  of  all  peoples,  and  every  fea- 
ture of  the  settlement  that  concludes  this  war  must  be  con- 
ceived and  executed  for  that  purpose.  Wrongs  must  first  be 
righted  and  then  adequate  safeguards  must  be  created  to 
prevent  their  being  committed  again.  We  ought  not  to 
consider  remedies  merely  because  they  have  a  pleasing  and 


208    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

sonorous  sound.  Practical  questions  can  be  settled  only  by 
practical  means.  Phrases  will  not  accomplish  the  result. 
Effective  readjustments  will,  and  whatever  readjustments 
are  necessary  must  be  made. 

But  they  must  follow  a  principle  and  that  principle  is 
plain.  No  people  must  be  forced  under  sovereignty  under 
which  it  does  not  wish  to  live.  No  territory  must  change 
hands  except  for  the  purpose  of  securing  those  who  inhabit 
it  a  fair  chance  of  life  and  liberty.  No  indemnities  must 
be  insisted  on  except  those  that  constitute  payments  for 
manifest  wrongs  done.  No  readjustments  of  power  must 
be  made  except  such  as  will  tend  to  secure  the  future  peace 
of  the  world  and  the  future  welfare  and  happiness  of  its 
peoples. 

And  then  the  free  peoples  of  the  world  must  draw  to- 
gether in  some  common  covenant,  some  genuine  and  prac- 
tical cooperation  that  will  in  effect  combine  their  force  to 
secure  peace  and  justice  in  the  dealings  of  nations  with 
one  another.  The  brotherhood  of  mankind  must  no  longer 
be  a  fair  but  empty  phrase;  it  must  be  given  a  structure  of 
force  and  reality.  The  nations  must  realize  their  common 
life  and  effect  a  workable  partnership  to  secure  that  life 
against  the  aggressions  of  autocratic  and  self-pleasing  power. 

For  these  things  we  can  afford  to  pour  out  blood  and 
treasure.  For  these  are  the  things  we  have  always  pro- 
fessed to  desire,  and  unless  we  pour  out  blood  and  treasure 
now  and  succeed  we  may  never  be  able  to  unite  or  show 
conquering  force  again  in  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty. 
The  day  has  come  to  conquer  or  submit.  If  the  forces  of 
autocracy  can  divide  us  they  will  overcome  us;  if  we  stand 
together  victory  is  certain  and  the  liberty  which  victory 
•will  secure.  We  can  afford  then  to  be  generous,  but  we 
cannot  afford  then  or  now  to  be  weak  or  omit  any  single 
guarantee  of  justice  and  security. 

Official  Bulletin,  June  9,  19 17. 


May  30]    DEFENDERS  OF  AMERICAN  HONOR      209 
63.    DEFENDERS  OF  AMERICAN  HONOR 

(May  30,  19 1 7) 

Address  at  Arlington  Cemetery 

The  program  has  conferred  an  unmerited  dignity  upon 
the  remarks  I  am  going  to  make  by  calling  them  an  address, 
because  I  am  not  here  to  deliver  an  address.  I  am  here 
merely  to  show  in  my  official  capacity  the  sympathy  of  this 
great  Government  with  the  object  of  this  occasion,  and 
also  to  speak  just  a  word  of  the  sentiment  that  is  in  my 
own  heart. 

Any  Memorial  Day  of  this  sort  is,  of  course,  a  day  touched 
•with  sorrowful  memory,  and  yet  I  for  one  do  not  see  how  we 
can  have  any  thought  of  pity  for  the  men  whose  memory  we 
honor  to-day.  I  do  not  pity  them.  I  envy  them,  rather; 
because  theirs  is  a  great  work  for  liberty  accomplished  and 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  work  unfinished,  testing  our 
strength  where  their  strength  already  has  been  tested. 

There  is  a  touch  of  sorrow,  but  there  is  a  touch  of  reas- 
surance also  in  a  day  like  this,  because  we  know  how  the 
men  of  America  have  responded  to  the  call  of  the  cause  of 
liberty  and  it  fills  our  mind  with  a  perfect  assurance  that 
that  response  will  come  again  in  equal  measures,  with  equal 
majesty,  and  with  a  result  which  will  hold  the  attention  of 
all  mankind.  When  you  reflect  upon  it,  these  men  who 
died  to  preserve  the  Union  died  to  preserve  the  instrument 
which  we  are  now  using  to  serve  the  world — a  free  Nation 
espousing  the  cause  of  human  liberty.  In  one  sense  the  great 
struggle  into  which  we  have  now  entered  is  an  American 
struggle,  because  it  is  in  the  defense  of  American  honor  and 
American  rights,  but  it  is  something  even  greater  than  that; 
it  is  a  worid  struggle.  It  is  the  struggle  of  men  who  love 
liberty  everywhere,  and  in  this  cause  America  will  show 
herself  greater  than  ever  because  she  will  rise  to  a  greater 
thing.  We  have  said  in  the  beginning  that  we  planted  thic 
great  Government  that  men  who  wish  freedom  might  have  a 
place  of  refuge  and  a  place  where  their  hope  could  be 
realized,  and  now,  having  established  such  a  Government 


aio    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   V/ILSON     [1917 

having  preserved  such  a  Government,  having  vindicated  the 
power  of  such  a  Government,  we  are  saying  to  all  mankind, 
*'We  did  not  set  this  Government  up  in  order  that  we  might 
have  a  selfish  and  separate  liberty,  for  we  are  now  ready 
to  come  to  your  assistance  and  fight  out  upon  the  field  of  the 
world  the  cause  of  human  liberty."  In  this  thing  America 
attains  her  full  dignity  and  the  full  fruition  of  her  great 
purpose. 

No  man  can  be  glad  that  such  things  have  happened  as 
we  have  witnessed  in  these  last  fateful  years,  but  perhaps 
it  may  be  permitted  to  us  to  be  glad  that  we  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  show  the  principles  that  we  profess  to  be  living 
principles  that  live  in  our  hearts,  and  to  have  a  chance  by 
the  pouring  out  of  our  blood  and  treasure  to  vindicate  the 
thing  which  we  have  professed.  For,  my  friends,  the  real 
fruition  of  life  is  to  do  the  things  we  have  said  we  wished 
to  do.  There  are  times  when  words  seem  empty  and  only 
action  seems  great.  Such  a  time  has  come,  and  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  America  will  once  more  have  an  opportunity 
to  show  to  the  world  that  she  was  born  to  serve  mankind. 

Official  Bulletin,  May  31,  19 17. 

64.    INSULTS  AND  AGGRESSIONS  OF  GERMANY 

(June  14,  1917) 

Address  on  Flag  Day  at  Washington 

My  Fellow  Citizens:  We  meet  to  celebrate  Flag  Day  be- 
cause this  flag  which  we  honor  and  under  which  we  serve 
is  the  emblem  of  our  unity,  our  power,  our  thought  and  pur- 
pose as  a  nation.  It  has  no  other  character  than  that  which 
we  give  it  from  generation  to  generation.  The  choices  are 
ours.  It  floats  in  majestic  silence  above  the  hosts  that  exe- 
cute those  choices,  whether  in  peace  or  in  war.  And  yet, 
though  silent,  it  speaks  to  us, — speaks  to  us  of  the  past,  of 
the  men  and  women  who  went  before  us  and  of  the  records 
they  wrote  upon  it.  We  celebrate  the  day  of  its  birth; 
and  from  its  birth  until  now  it  has  witnessed  a  great  history, 
has  floated  on  high  the  symbol  of  great  events,  of  a  great 


June  14]  GERMANY'S  AGGRESSIONS  211 

plan  of  life  worked  out  by  a  great  people.  We  are  about 
to  carry  it  into  battle,  to  lift  it  where  it  will  draw  the  fire 
of  our  enemies.  We  are  about  to  bid  thousands,  hundreds 
of  thousands,  it  may  be  millions,  of  our  men,  the  young, 
the  strong,  ^the  capable  men  of  the  nation,  to  go  forth  and 
die  beneath  it  on  fields  of  blood  far  away, — for  what?  For 
some  unaccustomed  thing?  For  something  for  which  it  has 
never  sought  the  fire  before?  American  armies  were  never 
before  sent  across  the  seas.  Why  are  they  sent  now?  For 
some  new  purpose,  for  which  this  great  flag  has  never  been 
carried  before,  or  for  some  old,  familiar,  heroic  purpose  for 
which  it  has  seen  men,  its  own  men,  die  on  every  battlefield 
upon  which  Americans  have  borne  arms  since  the  Revo- 
lution? 

These  are  questions  which  must  be  answered.  We  are 
Americans.  We  in  our  turn  serve  America,  and  can  serve 
her  with  no  private  purpose.  We  must  use  her  flag  as  she 
has  always  used  it.  We  are  accountable  at  the  bar  of  history 
and  must  plead  in  utter  frankness  what  purpose  it  is  we 
seek  to  serve. 

It  is  plain  enough  how  we  were  forced  into  the  war.  The 
extraordinary  insults  and  aggressions  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  left  us  no  self-respecting  choice  but  to  take 
up  arms  in  defense  of  our  rights  as  a  free  people  and  oi 
our  honor  as  a  sovereign  government.  The  military  masters. 
of  Germany  denied  us  the  right  to  be  neutral.  They  filled 
our  unsuspecting  communities  with  vicious  spies  and  con- 
spirators and  sought  to  corrupt  the  opinion  of  our  people 
in  their  own  behalf.  When  they  found  that  they  could  not 
do  that,  their  agents  diligently  spread  sedition  amongst  us 
and  sought  to  draw  our  own  citizens  from  their  allegiance, 
— and  some  of  those  agents  were  men  connected  with  the 
official  Embassy  of  the  German  Government  itself  here  in 
our  own  capital.  They  sought  by  violence  to  destroy  our 
industries  and  arrest  our  commerce.  They  tried  to  incite 
Mexico  to  take  up  arms  against  us  and  to  draw  Japan  into  a 
hostile  alliance  with  her, — and  that,  not  by  indirection,  but 
by  direct  suggestion  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin.  They 
impudently  denied  us  the  use  of  the  high  seas  and  repeatedly 
executed  their  threat  that  they  would  send  to  their  death 


212     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

any  of  our  people  who  ventured  to  approach  the  coasts  of 
Europe.  And  many  of  our  own  people  were  corrupted.  Men 
began  to  look  upon  their  own  neighbors  with  suspkion  and 
to  wonder  in  their  hot  resentment  and  surprise  whether  there 
was  any  community  in  which  hostile  intrigue  did  not  lurk. 
What  great  nation  in  such  circumstances  would  not  have 
taken  up  arms?  Much  as  we  had  desired  peace,  it  was 
denied  us,  and  not  of  our  own  choice.  This  flag  under 
which  we  serve  would  have  been  dishonored  had  we  withheld 
our  hand. 

But  that  is  only  part  of  the  story.  We  know  now  as 
clearly  as  we  knew  before  we  were  ourselves  engaged  that 
we  are  not  the  enemies  of  the  German  people  and  that  they 
are  not  our  enemies.  They  did  not  originate  or  desire  this 
hideous  war  or  wish  that  we  should  be  drawn  into  it;  and 
we  are  vaguely  conscious  that  we  are  fighting  their  cause, 
as  they  will  some  day  see  it,  as  well  as  our  own.  They 
are  themselves  in  the  grip  of  the  same  sinister  power  that 
has  now  at  last  stretched  its  ugly  talons  out  and  drawn  blood 
from  us.  The  whole  world  is  at  war  because  the  whole 
world  is  in  the  grip  of  that  power  and  is  trying  out  the 
great  battle  which  shall  determine  whether  it  is  to  be  brought 
under  its  mastery  or  fling  itself  free. 

The  war  was  begun  by  the  military  masters  of  Germany, 
who  proved  to  be  also  the  masters  of  Austria-Hungary. 
These  men  have  never  regarded  nations  as  peoples,  for  whom 
governments  existed  and  in  whom  governments  had  their 
life.  They  have  regarded  them  merely  as  serviceable  organi- 
zations which  they  could  by  force  or  intrigue  bend  or  cor- 
rupt to  their  own  purpose.  They  have  regarded  the  smaller 
states,  in  particular,  and  the  peoples  who  could  be  over- 
whelmed by  force,  as  their  natural  tools  and  instruments  of 
domination.  Their  purpose  has  long  been  avowed.  The 
statesmen  of  other  nations,  to  whom  that  purpose  was  in- 
credible, paid  little  attention;  regarded  what  German  pro- 
fessors expounded  in  their  classrooms  and  German  writers 
set  forth  to  the  world  as  the  goal  of  German  policy  as  rather 
the  dream  of  minds  detached  from  practical  affairs,  as  pre- 
posterous private  conceptions  of  German  destiny,  than  as 
the  actual  plans  of  responsible  rulers;  but  the  rulers  of  Ger- 


June  14]  GERMANY'S  AGGRESSIONS  213 

many  themselves  knew  all  the  while  what  concrete  plans, 
what  well  advanced  intrigues  lay  back  of  what  the  pro- 
fessors and  the  writers  were  saying,  and  were  glad  to  go 
forward  unmolested,  filling  the  thrones  of  Balkan  states  with 
German  princes,  putting  German  officers  at  the  service  of 
Turkey  to  drill  her  armies  and  make  interest  with  her 
government,  developing  plans  of  sedition  and  rebellion  in 
India  and  Egypt,  setting  their  fires  in  Persia.  The  demands 
made  by  Austria  upon  Serbia  were  a  mere  single  step  in  a 
plan  which  compassed  Europe  and  Asia,  from  Berlin  to 
Bagdad.  They  hoped  those  demands  might  not  arouse 
Europe,  but  they  meant  to  press  them  whether  they  did  or 
not,  for  they  thought  themselves  ready  for  the  final  issue 
of  arms. 

Their  plan  was  to  throw  a  broad  belt  of  German  military 
power  and  political  control  across  the  very  centre  of  Europe 
and  beyond  the  Mediterranean  into  the  heart  of  Asia;  and 
Austria-Hungary  was  to  be  as  much  their  tool  and  pawn  as 
Serbia  or  Bulgaria  or  Turkey  or  the  ponderous  states  of  the 
East.  Austria-Hungary,  indeed,  was  to  become  part  of  the 
central  German  Empire,  absorbed  and  dominated  by  the 
same  forces  and  influences  that  had  originally  cemented  the 
German  states  themselves.  The  dream  had  its  heart  at 
Berlin.  It  could  have  had  a  heart  nowhere  else!  It  rejected 
the  idea  of  solidarity  of  race  entirely.  The  choice  of  peoples 
played  no  part  in  it  at  all.  It  contemplated  binding  to- 
gether racial  and  political  units  which  could  be  kept  together 
only  by  force,— Czechs,  Magyars,  Croats,  Serbs,  Rouma- 
nians, Turks,  Armenians, — the  proud  states  of  Bohemia  and 
Hungary,  the  stout  little  commonwealths  of  the  B.alkans, 
the  indomitable  Turks,  the  subtile  peoples  of  the  East. 
These  peoples  did  not  wish  to  be  united.  They  ardently 
desired  to  direct  their  own  affairs,  would  be  satisfied  only 
by  undisputed  independence.  They  could  be  kept  quiet  only 
by  the  presence  or  the  constant  threat  of  armed  men.  They 
would  live  under  a  common  power  only  by  sheer  compul- 
sion and  await  the  day  of  revolution.  But  the  German 
military  statesmen  had  reckoned  with  all  that  and  were 
ready  to  deal  with  it  in  their  own  way. 

And  they  have  actually  carried  the  greater  part  of  that 


214    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

amazing  plan  into  execution!  Look  how  things  stand. 
Austria  is  at  their  mercy.  It  has  acted,  not  upon  its  own 
initiative  or  upon  the  choice  of  its  own  people,  but  at  Berlin's 
dictation  ever  since  the  war  began.  Its  people  now  desire 
peace,  but  cannot  have  it  until  leave  is  granted  from  Berlin. 
The  so-called  Central  Powers  are  in  fact  but  a  single  Power. 
Serbia  is  at  its  mercy,  should  its  hands  be  but  for  a  moment 
freed.  Bulgaria  has  consented  to  its  will,  and  Roumania  is 
overrun.  The  Turkish  armies,  which  Germans  trained,  are 
serving  Germany,  certainly  not  themselves,  and  the  guns  of 
German  warships  lying  in  the  harbor  at  Constantinople  re- 
mind Turkish  statesmen  every  day  that  they  have  no  choice 
but  to  take  their  orders  from  Berlin.  From  Hamburg  to 
the  Persian  Gulf  the  net  is  spread. 

Is  it  not  easy  to  understand  the  eagerness  for  peace  that 
has  been  manifested  from  Berlin  ever  since  the  snare  was 
set  and  sprung?  Peace,  peace,  peace  has  been  the  talk  of 
her  Foreign  Office  for  now  a  year  and  more;  not  peace  upon 
her  own  initiative,  but  upon  the  initiative  of  the  nations 
over  which  she  now  deems  herself  to  hold  the  advantage. 
A  little  of  the  talk  has  been  public,  but  most  of  it  has  been 
private.  Through  all  sorts  of  channels  it  has  come  to  me, 
and  in  all  sorts  of  guises,  but  never  with  the  terms  disclosed 
which  the  German  Government  would  be  v/illing  to  accept. 
That  government  has  other  valuable  pawns  in  its  hands 
besides  those  I  have  mentioned.  It  still  holds  a  valuble  part 
of  France,  though  with  slowly  relaxing  grasp,  and  practically 
the  whole  of  Belgim.  Its  armies  press  close  upon  Russia 
and  overrun  Poland  at  their  will.  It  cannot  go  further;  it 
dare  not  go  back.  It  wishes  to  close  its  bargain  before  it  is 
too  late  and  it  has  little  left  to  offer  for  the  pound  of  flesh  it 
will  demand. 

The  military  masters  under  whom  Germany  is  bleeding 
see  very  clearly  to  what  point  Fate  has  brought  them.  If 
they  fall  back  or  are  forced  back  an  inch,  their  power  both 
abroad  and  at  home  will  fall  to  pieces  like  a  house  of  cards. 
It  is  their  power  at  home  they  are  thinking  about  now  more 
than  their  power  abroad.  It  is  that  power  which  is  trem  - 
bling  under  their  very  feet;  and  deep  fear  has  entered  their 
hearts.    They  have  but  one  ci-ance  to  perpetuate  their  mili- 


June  14]  GERMANY'S  AGGRESSIONS  215 

tary  power  or  even  their  controlling  political  influence.  If 
they  can  secure  peace  now  with  the  immense  advantages 
still  in  their  hands  which  they  have  up  to  this  point  appar- 
ently gained,  they  will  have  justified  themselves  before  the 
German  people:  they  will  have  gained  by  force  what  they 
promised  to  gain  by  it:  an  immense  expansion  of  German 
power,  an  immense  enlargement  of  German  industrial  and 
commercial  opportunities.  Their  prestige  will  be  secure,  and 
with  their  prestige  their  political  power.  If  they  fail,  their 
people  will  thrust  them  aside;  a  government  accoimtable  to 
the  people  themselves  will  be  set  up  in  Germany  as  it  has 
been  in  England,  in  the  United  States,  in  France,  and  in 
all  the  great  countries  of  the  modem  time  except  Germany. 
If  they  succeed  they  are  safe  and  Germany  and  the  world 
are  undone;  if  they  fail  Germany  is  saved  and  the  world  will 
be  at  peace.  If  they  succeed,  America  will  fall  within  the 
menace.  We  and  all  the  rest  of  the  world  must  remain 
armed,  as  they  will  remain,  and  must  make  ready  for  the 
next  step  in  their  aggression;  if  they  fail,  the  world  may 
imite  for  peace  and  Germany  may  be  of  the  union. 

Do  you  not  now  understand  the  new  intrigue,  the  intrigue 
for  peace,  and  why  the  masters  of  Germany  do  not  hesitate 
to  use  any  agency  that  promises  to  effect  their  purpose,  the 
deceit  of  the  nations?  Their  present  particular  aim  is  to 
deceive  all  those  who  throughout  the  world  stand  for  the 
rights  of  peoples  and  the  self-government  of  nations;  for 
they  see  what  immense  strength  the  forces  of  justice  and  of 
liberalism  are  gathering  out  of  this  war.  They  are  employ- 
ing liberals  in  their  enterprise.  They  are  using  men,  in 
Germany  and  without,  as  their  spokesmen  whom  they  have 
hitherto  despised  and  oppressed,  using  them  for  their  owTi 
destruction, — socialists,  the  leaders  of  labor,  the  thinkers  they 
have  hitherto  sought  to  silence.  Let  them  once  succeed  and 
these  men,  now  their  tools,  will  be  ground  to  powder  beneath 
the  weight  of  the  great  military  empire  they  will  have  set 
up;  the  revolutionists  in  Russia  will  be  cut  off  from  all 
succor  or  cooperation  in  western  Europe  and  a  counter  revo- 
lution fostered  and  supported;  Germany  herself  will  lose  her 
chance  of  freedom;  and  all  Europe  will  arm  for  the  next, 
the  final  struggle. 


2i6    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

The  sinister  intrigue  is  being  no  less  actively  conducted  in 
this  country  than  in  Russia  and  in  every  country  in  Europe 
to  which  the  agents  and  dupes  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government  can  get  access.  That  government  has  many 
spokesmen  here,  in  places  high  and  low.  They  have  learned 
discretion.  They  keep  within  the  law.  It  is  opinion  they 
utter  now,  not  sedition.  They  proclaim  the  liberal  pur- 
poses of  their  masters;  declare  this  a  foreign  war  which  can 
touch  America  with  no  danger  to  either  her  lands  or  her 
institutions;  set  England  at  the  centre  of  the  stage  and  talk 
of  her  ambition  to  assert  economic  dominion  throughout  the 
world;  appeal  to  our  ancient  tradition  of  isolation  in  the 
politics  of  the  nations;  and  seek  to  undermine  the  govern- 
ment with  false  professions  of  loyalty  to  its  principles. 

But  they  will  make  no  headway.  The  false  betray  them- 
selves always  in  every  accent.  It  is  only  friends  and  par- 
tisans of  the  German  Government  whom  we  have  already 
identified  who  utter  these  thinly  disguised  disloyalties.  The 
facts  are  patent  to  all  the  world,  and  nowhere  are  they  more 
plainly  seen  than  in  the  United  States,  where  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  deal  with  facts  and  not  with  sophistries;  and  the 
great  fact  that  stands  out  above  all  the  rest  is  that  this  is  a 
Peoples'  War,  a  war  for  freedom  and  justice  and  self-gov- 
ernment amongst  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  a  war  to  make 
the  world  safe  for  the  peoples  who  live  upon  it  and  have 
made  it  their  own,  the  German  people  themselves  included; 
and  that  with  us  rests  the  choice  to  break  through  all  these 
hypocrisies  and  patent  cheats  and  masks  of  brute  force  and 
help  set  the  world  free,  or  else  stand  aside  and  let  it  be  domi- 
nated a  long  age  through  by  sheer  weight  of  arms  and  the 
arbitrary  choices  of  self-constituted  masters,  by  the  nation 
which  can  maintain  the  biggest  armies  and  the  most  irre- 
sistible armaments, — sl  power  to  which  the  world  has  afforded 
no  parallel  and  in  the  face  of  which  political  freedom  must 
wither  and  perish. 

For  us  there  is  but  one  choice.  We  have  made  it.  Woe 
be  to  the  man  or  group  of  men  that  seeks  to  stand  in  our 
way  in  this  day  of  high  resolution  when  every  principle  we 
hold  dearest  is  to  be  vindicated  and  made  secure  for  the 
salvation  of  the  nations.    We  are  ready  to  plead  at  the  bar 


June  14]  GERMANY'S  AGGRESSIONS  217 

of  history,  and  our  flag  shall  wear  a  new  lustre.  Once  more 
we  shall  make  good  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  the  great 
faith  to  which  we  were  bom,  and  a  new  glory  shall  shine 
in  the  face  of  our  people. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


65.     GREETING  TO  FRENCH  DEMOCRACY 

(July  14,  191 7) 

Cablegram  to  the  French  Government 

On  this  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  democracy  in  France, 
I  offer  on  behalf  of  my  countrymen,  and  on  my  own  behalf, 
fraternal  greeting  as  befits  the  strong  ties  that  unite  our 
peoples  who  to-day  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  defense  of 
liberty  in  testimony  of  the  steadfast  purpose  of  our  two 
countries  to  achieve  victory  for  the  sublime  cause  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  against  oppression.  The  lesson  of  the 
Bastile  is  not  lost  to  the  world  of  free  peoples.  May  the 
day  be  near  when  on  the  ruins  of  the  dark  stronghold  of 
unbridled  power  and  conscienceless  autocracy,  the  nobler 
structure,  upbuilt  like  your  own  great  Republic  on  the  eternal 
foundation  of  peace  and  right,  shall  arise  to  gladden  an  en- 
franchised world. 

New  York  Times,  July  17,  19 17. 

66.    THE  BIBLE  AND  THE  SOLDIER 

(August,  1917) 

Message  to  Soldiers  and  Sailors 

The  Bible  is  the  word  of  life.  I  beg  that  you  will  read 
it  and  find  this  out  for  yourselves — read,  not  little  snatches 
here  and  there,  but  long  passages  that  will  really  be  the 
road  to  the  heart  of  it.  You  will  find  it  full  of  real  men  and 
women  not  only  but  also  of  things  you  have  wondered  ?.bout 


2iS    ADDRESSES   OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1917 

and  been  troubled  about  all  your  life,  as  men  have  been 
always;  and  the  more  you  read  the  more  it  will  become  plain 
to  you  what  things  are  worth  while  and  what  are  not,  what 
things  make  men  happy — loyalty,  right  dealings,  speaking 
the  truth,  readiness  to  give  everything  for  what  they  think 
their  duty,  and,  most  of  all,  the  wish  that  they  may  have 
the  real  approval  of  the  Christ,  who  gave  everything  for 
them — and  the  things  that  are  guaranteed  to  make  men 
unhappy — selfishness,  cowardice,  greed,  and  everything  that 
is  low  and  mean.  When  you  have  read  the  Bible  you  will 
know  that  it  is  the  Word  of  God,  because  you  will  have 
found  it  the  key  to  your  own  heart,  your  own  happiness,  and 
your  own  duty. 

Congressional  Record,  LV,  6041. 


67.    PATRIOTIC  TEACHING  IN  SCHOOLS 

(August  23,  1917) 
Public  Appeal  to  School  Officers 

The  war  is  bringing  to  the  minds  of  our  people  a  new 
appreciation  of  the  problems  of  national  life  and  a  deeper 
understanding  of  the  meaning  and  aims  of  democracy.  Mat- 
ters which  heretofore  have  seemed  commonplace  and  trivial 
are  seen  in  a  truer  light.  The  urgent  demand  for  the  pro- 
duction and  proper  distribution  of  food  and  other  national 
resources  has  made  us  aware  of  the  close  dependence  of 
individual  on  individual  and  nation  on  nation.  The  effort 
to  keep  up  social  and  industrial  organizations  in  spite  of 
the  withdrawal  of  men  for  the  army  has  revealed  the  extent 
to  which  modem  life  has  become  complex  and  specialized. 

These  and  other  lessons  of  the  war  must  be  learned  quickly 
if  we  are  intelligently  and  successfully  to  defend  our  institu- 
tions. When  the  war  is  over  we  must  apply  the  wisdom 
which  we  have  acquired  in  purging  and  ennobling  the  life  of 
the  world. 

In  these  vital  tasks  of  acquiring  a  broader  view  of  human 
possibilities  the  common  school  must  have  a  large  part.    I 


Aug.  23]    PATRIOTIC  TEACHING  IN  SCHOOLS      219 

urge  that  teachers  and  other  school  officers  increase  materi- 
ally the  tim*^  and  attention  devoted  to  instruction  bearing 
directly  on  the  problems  of  community  and  national  life. 

Such  a  plea  is  in  no  way  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  American 
public  education  or  of  existing  practices.  Nor  is  it  a  plea 
for  a  temporary  enlargement  of  the  school  program  appro- 
priate merely  to  the  period  of  the  war.  It  is  a  plea  for  a 
realization  in  public  education  of  the  new  emphasis  which 
the  war  has  given  to  the  ideals  of  democracy  and  to  the 
broader  conceptions  of  national  life. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  definite  material  at  hand  with 
which  the  schools  may  at  once  expand  their  teaching  I  have 
asked  Mr.  Hoover  and  Commissioner  Claxton  to  organize  the 
proper  agencies  for  the  preparation  and  distribution  of  suit- 
able lessons  for  the  elementary  grades  and  for  the  high 
school  classes.  Lessons  thus  suggested  will  serve  the  double 
purpose  of  illustrating  in  a  concrete  way  what  can  be  under- 
taken in  the  schools  and  of  stimulating  teachers  in  all  parts 
of  the  country  to  formulate  new  and  appropriate  materials 
drawn  directly  from  the  communities  in  which  they  live. 

Issued  by  U.  S.  Board  of  Education, 

68.    PAPAL  PROPOSITIONS  OF  PEACE 

(August  27,  19 1 7) 

Reply  to  the  Pope  Through  Secretary  Lansing 

In  acknowledgment  of  the  communication  of  Your  Holi- 
ness to  the  belligerent  peoples,  dated  August  i,  19 17,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  requests  me  to  trsmsmit  the 
following  reply: 

Every  heart  that  has  not  been  blinded  and  hardened  by 
this  terrible  war  must  be  touched  by  this  moving  appeal  of 
His  Holiness  the  Pope,  must  feel  the  dignity  and  force  of 
the  humane  and  generous  motives  which  prompted  it,  and 
must  fervently  wish  that  we  might  take  the  path  of  peace  he 
so  persuasively  points  out.  But  it  would  be  folly  to  take  it 
if  it  does  not  in  fact  lead  to  the  goal  he  proposes.  Our 
response  must  be  based   upon   the  stem   facts  and  upon 


220    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

nothing  else.  It  is  not  a  mere  cessation  of  arms  he  desires; 
it  is  a  stable  and  enduring  peace.  This  agony  must  not  be 
gone  through  with  again,  and  it  must  be  a  matter  of  very 
sober  judgment  what  will  insure  us  against  it. 

His  Holiness  in  substance  proposes  that  we  return  to  the 
status  quo  ante  bellum,  and  that  then  there  be  a  general 
condonation,  disarmament,  and  a  concert  of  nations  based 
upon  an  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  arbitration ;  that  by  a 
similar  concert  freedom  of  the  seas  be  established;  and  that 
the  territorial  claims  of  France  and  Italy,  the  perplexing 
problems  of  the  Balkan  States,  and  the  restitution  of  Poland 
be  left  to  such  conciliatory  adjustments  as  may  be  possible 
in  the  new  temper  of  such  a  peace,  due  regard  being  paid 
to  the  aspirations  of  the  peoples  whose  political  fortunes  and 
affiliations  will  be  involved. 

It  is  manifest  that  no  part  of  this  program  can  be  success- 
fully carried  out  unless  the  restitution  of  the  status  quo  ante 
furnishes  a  firm  and  satisfactory  basis  for  it.  The  object 
of  this  war  is  to  deliver  the  free  peoples  of  the  world  from 
the  menace  of  the  actual  power  of  a  vast  military  establish- 
ment controlled  by  an  irresponsible  government  which,  hav- 
ing secretly  planned  to  dominate  the  world,  proceeded  to 
carry  the  plan  out  without  regard  either  to  the  sacred  obli- 
gations of  treaty  or  the  long-established  practices  and  long- 
cherished  principles  of  international  action  and  honor;  which 
chose  its  own  time  for  the  war;  delivered  its  blow  fiercely 
and  suddenly;  stopped  at  no  barrier  either  of  law  or  of 
mercy;  swept  a  whole  continent  within  the  tide  of  blood — 
not  the  blood  of  soldiers  only,  but  the  blood  of  innocent 
women  and  children  also  and  of  the  helpless  poor;  and  now 
stands  balked  but  not  defeated,  the  enemy  of  four-fifths  of 
the  world.  This  power  is  not  the  German  people.  It  is 
the  ruthless  master  of  the  German  people.  It  is  no  business 
of  ours  how  that  great  people  came  under  its  control  or  sub- 
mitted with  temporary  zest  to  the  domination  of  its  purpose; 
but  it  is  our  business  to  see  to  it  that  the  history  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  is  no  longer  left  to  its  handling. 

To  deal  with  such  a  power  by  way  of  peace  upon  the  plan 
proposed  by  His  Holiness  the  Pope  would,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  involve  a  recuperation  of  its  strength  and  a  renewal  of 


Aug.  27]     PAPAL  PROPOSITIONS  OF  PEACE        221 

its  policy;  would  make  it  necessary  to  create  a  permanent 
hostile  combination  of  nations  against  the  German  people 
who  are  its  instruments;  and  would  result  in  abandoning  the 
newborn  Russia  to  the  intrigue,  the  manifold  subtle  inter- 
ference, and  the  certain  counter-revolution  which  would  be 
attempted  by  all  the  malign  influences  to  which  the  German 
Government  has  of  late  accustomed  the  world.  Can  peace 
be  based  upon  a  restitution  of  its  power  or  upon  any  word 
of  honor  it  could  pledge  in  a  treaty  of  settlement  and  ac- 
commodation? 

Responsible  statesmen  must  now  ever5rwhere  see,  if  they 
never  saw  before,  that  no  peace  can  rest  securely  upon  politi- 
cal or  economic  restrictions  meant  to  benefit  some  nations  and 
cripple  or  embarrass  others,  upon  vindictive  action  of  any 
sort,  or  any  kind  of  revenge  or  deliberate  injury.  The  Amer- 
ican people  have  suffered  intolerable  wrongs  at  the  hands  of 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  but  they  desire  no  reprisal 
upon  the  German  people  who  have  themselves  suffered  all 
things  in  this  war  which  they  did  not  choose.  They  believe 
that  peace  should  rest  upon  the  rights  of  peoples,  not  the 
rights  of  Governments — the  rights  of  peoples  great  or  small, 
weak  or  powerful — their  equal  right  to  freedom  and  security 
and  self-government  and  to  a  participation  upon  fair  terms 
in  the  economic  opportunities  of  the  world,  the  German  peo- 
ple of  course  included  if  they  will  accept  equality  and  not  seek 
domination. 

The  test,  therefore,  of  every  plan  of  peace  is  this:  Is  it 
based  upon  the  faith  of  all  the  p)eoples  involved  or  merely 
upon  the  word  of  an  ambitious  and  intriguing  government 
on  the  one  hand  and  of  a  group  of  free  peoples  on  the  other? 
This  is  a  test  which  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter;  and  it  is 
the  test  which  must  be  applied. 

The  purposes  of  the  United  States  in  this  war  are  known 
to  the  whole  world,  to  every  people  to  whom  the  truth  has 
been  permitted  to  come.  They  do  not  need  to  be  stated 
again.  We  seek  no  material  advantage  of  any  kind.  We 
believe  that  the  intolerable  wrongs  done  in  this  war  by  the 
furious  and  brutal  power  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment ought  to  be  repaired,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  sov- 
ereignty of  any  people — rather  a  vindication  of  the  sover- 


Ej-2    addresses    of   president   WILSON     [1917 

^I'^nty  both  of  those  that  are  weak  and  of  those  that  ar« 
^crang.  Punitive  damages,  the  dismemberment  of  empires. 
■:he  establishment  of  selfish  and  exclusive  economic  leagues, 
T7^  deem  inexpedient  and  in  the  end  worse  than  futile,  no 
\>roper  basis  for  a  peace  of  any  kind,  least  of  all  for  an  en- 
during peace.  That  must  be  based  upon  justice  and  fairness 
,..nd  the  common  rights  of  mankind. 

We  can  not  take  the  word  of  the  present  rulers  of  Ger- 
;iany  as  a  guaranty  of  anything  that  is  to  endure,  imless 
explicitly  supported  by  such  consclusive  evidence  of  the  will 
jLiid  purpose  of  the  German  people  themselves  as  the  other 
peoples  of  the  world  would  be  justified  in  accepting.  With- 
out such  guaranties  treaties  of  settlement,  agreements  for 
disarmament,  covenants  to  set  up  arbitration  in  the  place  of 
force,  territorial  adjustments,  reconstitutions  of  small  na- 
tions, if  made  with  the  German  Government,  no  man,  no 
nation  could  now  depend  on.  We  must  await  some  new  evi- 
dence of  the  purposes  of  the  great  peoples  of  the  Central 
Powers.  God  grant  it  may  be  given  soon  and  in  a  way  to 
restore  the  confidence  of  all  peoples  ever)rwhere  in  the  faitb 
of  nations  and  the  possibility  of  a  covenanted  peace. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


69.    TO  TUE  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ARMY 

(September  3,  191 7) 
Public  Message  to  the  Drafted  Men 

You  are  undertaking  a  great  duty.  The  heart  of  the  whole 
country  is  with  you. 

Everything  that  you  do  v/ill  be  watched  with  the  deepest 
interest  and  with  the  deepest  solicitude,  not  only  by  those 
who  are  near  and  dear  to  you,  but  by  the  whole  nation 
besides.  For  this  great  war  draws  us  all  together,  makes 
us  all  comrades  and  brothers,  as  all  true  Americans  felt 
themselves  to  be  when  we  first  made  good  our  national  in- 
dependence. 

The  eyes  of  all  the  world  will  be  upon  you,  because  you 


Sept.  3]  TO  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ARMY  223 

are  in  some  special  sense  the  soldiers  of  freedom.  Let  it  be 
your  pride,  therefore,  to  show  all  men  everywhere  not  only 
what  good  soldiers  you  are,  but  also  what  good  men  you 
are,  keeping  yourselves  fit  and  straight  in  everything  and 
pure  and  clean  through  and  through. 

Let  us  set  for  ourselves  a  standard  so  high  that  it  will 
be  a  glory  to  live  up  to  it,  and  then  let  us  live  up  to  it  and 
add  a  new  laurel  to  the  crown  of  America. 

My  affectionate  confidence  goes  with  you  in  every  battle 
and  every  test    God  keep  and  guide  you! 

New  York  Times ,  Sept.  4,  19 17. 

70.    THE  JUNIOR  RED  CROSS 

(September  15,  191 7) 

Proclamation  to  the  School  Children  of  the  United 

States 

The  President  of  the  United  States  is  also  President  of 
the  American  Red  Cross.  It  is  from  these  offices  joined  in 
one  that  I  write  you  a  word  of  greeting  at  this  time,  when  so 
many  of  you  are  beginning  the  school  year. 

The  American  Red  Cross  has  just  prepared  a  junior  mem- 
bership with  school  activities,  in  which  every  pupil  in  the 
United  States  can  find  a  chance  to  serve  our  country.  The 
school  is  the  natural  centre  of  your  life.  Through  it  you  can 
best  work  in  the  great  cause  of  freedom  to  which  we  have  all 
pledged  ourselves. 

Our  junior  Red  Cross  will  bring  to  you  opportunities  of 
service  to  your  community  and  to  other  communities  all  over 
the  world  and  guide  your  service  with  high  and  religious 
ideals.  It  will  teach  you  how  to  save  in  order  that  suffering 
children  elsewhere  may  have  the  chance  to  live.  It  will  teach 
you  how  to  prepare  some  of  the  supplies  which  wounded  sol- 
diers and  homeless  families  lack.  It  will  send  to  you  through 
the  Red  Cross  bulletins  the  thrilling  stories  of  relief  and 
rescue.  And,  best  of  all,  more  perfectly  than  through  any 
of  your  other  school  lessons,  you  will  learn  by  doing  those 
kind  things  under  your  teacher's  direction   to  be  the  fu- 


224    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

ture  good  citizens  of  this  great  country  which  we  all  love. 
And  I  commend  to  all  school  teachers  in  the  coimtry  the 
simple  plan  which  the  American  Red  Cross  has  worked  out 
to  provide  for  your  cooperation,  knowing  as  I  do  that  school 
children  will  give  their  best  service  under  the  direct  guidance 
and  instruction  of  their  teachers.  Is  not  this  perhaps  the 
chance  for  which  you  have  been  looking  to  give  your  time 
and  efforts  in  some  measure  to  meet  our  national  needs? 
New  York  Times,  Sept.  19,  19 17. 


71.    WOMEN  AND  THE  SUFFRAGE 

(October  25,  1917) 

Reply  to  a  Delegation  from  the  New  York  State 
Woman's  Suffrage  Party,  at  the  White  House 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  receive  you.  I  esteem  it  a 
privilege  to  do  so.  I  know  the  difficulties  which  you  have 
been  laboring  under  in  New  York  State,  so  clearly  set  forth 
by  Mrs.  Whitehouse,  but  in  my  judgment  those  difficulties 
cannot  be  used  as  an  excuse  by  the  leaders  of  any  party  or 
by  the  voters  of  any  party  for  neglecting  the  question  which 
you  are  pressing  upon  them.  Because,  after  all,  the  whole 
world  now  is  witnessing  a  struggle  between  two  ideals  of 
government.  It  is  a  struggle  which  goes  deeper  and  touches 
more  of  the  foundations  of  the  organized  life  of  men  than 
any  struggle  that  has  ever  taken  place  before,  and  no  set- 
tlement of  the  questions  that  lie  on  the  surface  can  satisfy 
a  situation  which  requires  that  the  questions  which  lie  under- 
neath and  at  the  foundation  should  also  be  settled  and  set- 
tled right.  I  am  free  to  say  that  I  think  the  question  of 
woman  suffrage  is  one  of  those  questions  which  lie  at  the 
foundation. 

The  world  has  witnessed  a  slow  political  reconstruction, 
and  men  have  generally  been  obliged  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  slowness  of  the  process.  In  a  sense  it  is  wholesome  that 
it  should  be  slow,  because  then  it  is  solid  and  sure.  But  I 
believe  that  this  war  is  going  so  to  quicken  the  convictions 


Oct.  25]         WOMEN  AND  THE  SUFFRAGE  22.;^ 

and  the  consciousness  of  mankind  with  regard  to  political 
questions  that  the  speed  of  reconstruction  will  be  greatly 
increased.  And  I  believe  that  just  because  we  are  quickened 
by  the  questions  of  this  war,  we  ought  to  be  quickened  to 
give  this  question  of  woman  suffrage  our  immediate  con- 
sideration. 

As  one  of  the  spokesmen  of  a  great  party,  I  would  be  do- 
ing nothing  less  than  obeying  the  mandates  of  that  party 
if  I  gave  my  hearty  support  to  the  question  of  woman  suf- 
frage which  you  represent,  but  I  do  not  want  to  speak  merely 
as  one  of  the  spokesmen  of  a  party.  I  want  to  speak  for  my- 
self, and  say  that  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the  time  for 
the  States  of  this  Union  to  take  this  action.  I  perhaps  may 
be  touched  a  little  too  much  by  the  traditions  of  our  politics, 
traditions  which  lay  such  questions  almost  entirely  upon  the 
States,  but  I  want  to  see  communities  declare  themselves 
quickened  at  this  time  and  show  the  consequence  of  the 
quickening. 

I  think  the  whole  country  has  appreciated  the  way  in 
which  the  women  have  arisen  to  this  great  occasion.  They 
not  only  have  done  what  they  have  been  asked  to  do,  and 
done  it  with  ardor  and  efficiency,  but  they  have  shown  a 
power  to  organize  for  doing  things  of  their  own  initiative, 
which  is  quite  a  different  thing,  and  a  very  much  more  diffi- 
cult thing,  and  I  think  the  whole  country  has  admired  the 
spirit  and  the  capacity  and  the  vision  of  the  women  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  almost  absurd  to  say  that  the  country  depends  upon 
the  women  for  a  large  part  of  the  inspirations  of  its  life. 
That  is  too  obvious  to  say;  but  it  is  now  depending  upon  the 
women  also  for  suggestions  of  service,  which  have  been  ren- 
dered in  abundance  and  with  the  distinction  of  originality. 
I,  therefore,  am  very  glad  to  add  my  voice  to  those  which 
are  urging  the  people  of  the  great  State  of  New  York  to  set 
a  great  example  by  voting  for  woman  suffrage.  It  would  be 
a  pleasure  if  I  might  utter  that  advice  in  their  presence. 
Inasmuch  as  I  am  bound  too  close  to  my  duties  here  to  make 
that  possible,  I  am  glad  to  have  the  privilege  to  ask  you  to 
convey  that  message  to  them. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  :.  time  of  privilege.     All  our 


126    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

principles,  all  our  hearts,  all  our  purposes,  are  being  searched; 
searched  not  only  by  our  own  consciences  but  searched  by 
the  world;  and  it  is  time  for  the  people  of  the  States  of  this 
country  to  show  the  world  in  what  practical  sense  they  have 
learned  the  lessons  of  democracy — that  they  are  fighting  for 
democracy  because  they  believe  it,  and  that  there  is  no  ap- 
plication of  democracy  which  they  do  not  believe  in. 

I  feel,  therefore,  that  I  am  standing  upon  the  firmest 
foundations  of  the  age  in  bidding  Godspeed  to  the  cause 
which  you  represent  and  in  expressing  the  ardent  hope  that 
the  p)eople  of  New  York  may  realize  the  great  occasion  which 
faces  them  on  Election  Day  and  may  respond  to  it  in  noble 
fashion. 

New  York  Times,  Oct.  26,  19 17. 


72.    LABOR  AND  THE  WAR 

(November  12,  191 7) 

Address  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  Con- 
vention, AT  Buffalo 

I  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  and  a  real  honor  to  be  thus 
admitted  to  your  public  counsels.  When  your  executive  com- 
mittee paid  me  the  compliment  of  inviting  me  here  I  gladly 
accepted  the  invitation  because  it  seems  to  me  that  this,  above 
all  other  times  in  our  history,  is  the  time  for  common  coun- 
sel, for  the  drawing  together  not  only  of  the  energies  but 
of  the  minds  of  the  Nation.  I  thought  that  it  was  a  welcome 
opportunity  for  disclosing  to  you  some  of  the  thoughts  that 
have  been  gathering  in  my  mind  during  these  last  momentous 
months.  *  *  * 

The  war  was  started  by  Germany.  Her  authorities  deny 
that  they  started  it,  but  I  am  willing  to  let  the  statement  I 
have  just  made  await  the  verdict  of  history.  And  the  thing 
that  needs  to  be  explained  is  why  Germany  started  the  war. 
Remember  what  the  position  of  Germany  in  the  world  was — 
as  enviable  a  position  as  any  nation  has  ever  occupied.  The 
whole  world  stood  at  admiration  of  her  wonderful  intellectual 


Nov.  12]  LABOR  AND  THE  WAR  227 

and  material  achievements.  All  the  intellectual  men  of 
the  world  went  to  school  to  her.  As  a  university  man  I  have 
been  surrounded  by  men  trained  in  Germany,  men  who  had 
resorted  to  Germany  because  nowhere  else  could  they  get 
such  thorough  and  searching  training,  particularly  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  science  and  the  principles  that  underlie  modem  ma- 
terial achievement.  Her  men  of  science  had  made  her 
industries  perhaps  the  most  competent  industries  of  the 
world,  and  the  label  "Made  in  Germany"  was  a  guarantee 
of  good  workmanship  and  of  sound  material.  She  had  access 
to  all  the  markets  of  the  world,  and  every  other  nation  who 
traded  in  those  markets  feared  Germany  because  of  her  effec- 
tive and  almost  irresistible  competition.  She  had  a  "place 
in  the  sun." 

Why  was  she  not  satisfied?  What  more  did  she  want? 
There  was  nothing  in  the  world  of  peace  that  she  did  not 
already  have  and  have  in  abundance.  We  boast  of  the  ex- 
traordinary pace  of  American  advancement.  We  show  with 
pride  the  statistics  of  the  increase  of  our  industries  and  of  the 
population  of  our  cities.  Well,  those  statistics  did  not  match 
the  recent  statistics  of  Germany.  Her  old  cities  took  on 
youth  and  grew  faster  than  any  American  cities  ever  grew. 
Her  old  industries  opened  their  eyes  and  saw  a  new  world 
and  went  out  for  its  conquest.  And  yet  the  authorities  of 
Germany  were  not  satisfied. 

You  have  one  part  of  the  answer  to  the  question  vrhy  she 
was  not  satisfied  in  her  methods  of  competition.  There  is 
no  important  industry  in  Germany  upon  which  the  Govern- 
ment has  not  laid  its  hands,  to  direct  it  and,  when  necessity 
arose,  control  it;  and  you  have  only  to  ask  any  man  whom 
you  meet  who  is  familiar  with  the  conditions  that  prevailed 
before  the  war  in  the  matter  of  national  competition  to  find 
out  the  methods  of  competition  which  the  German  manufac- 
turers and  exporters  used  under  the  patronage  and  support  of 
the  Government  of  Germany.  You  will  find  that  they  were 
the  same  sorts  of  competition  that  we  have  tried  to  prevent 
by  law  within  our  own  borders.  If  they  could  not  sell  their 
goods  cheaper  than  we  could  sell  ours  at  a  profit  to  themselves 
they  could  get  a  subsidy  from  the  Government  which  made  it 
possible  to  sell  them  cheaper  anyhow,  and  the  conditions  of 


2  28     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

competition  were  thus  controlled  in  large  measure  by  the 
German  Government  itself. 

But  that  did  not  satisfy  the  German  Government.  All  the 
while  there  was  lying  behind  its  thought  and  in  its  dreams 
of  the  future  a  political  control  which  would  enable  it  in  the 
long  run  to  dominate  the  labor  and  the  industry  of  the  world. 
They  were  not  content  with  success  by  superior  achievement; 
they  wanted  success  by  authority.  I  suppose  very  few  of  you 
have  thought  much  about  the  Berlin-to-Bagdad  Railway. 
The  Berlin-Bagdad  Railway  was  constructed  in  order  to  nm 
the  threat  of  force  down  the  flank  of  the  industrial  under- 
takings of  half  a  dozen  other  countries;  so  that  when  German 
competition  came  in  it  would  not  be  resisted  too  far,  because 
there  was  always  the  possibility  of  getting  German  armies 
into  the  heart  of  that  country  quicker  than  any  other  armies 
could  be  got  there. 

Look  at  the  map  of  Europe  now!  Germany  is  thrusting 
upon  us  again  and  again  the  discussion  of  peace  talks, — about 
what?  Talks  about  Belgium;  talks  about  northern  France; 
talks  about  Alsace-Lorraine.  Well,  those  are  deeply  interest- 
ing subjects  to  us  and  to  them,  but  they  are  not  the  heart 
of  the  matter.  Take  the  map  and  look  at  it.  Germany  has 
absolute  control  of  Austria-Hungary,  practical  control  of 
the  Balkan  States,  control  of  Turkey,  control  of  Asia  Minor. 
I  saw  a  map  in  which  the  whole  thing  was  printed  in  appro- 
priate black  the  other  day,  and  the  black  stretched  all  the 
way  from  Hamburg  to  Bagdad — ^the  bulk  of  German  power 
inserted  into  the  heart  of  the  world.  If  she  can  keep  that, 
she  has  kept  all  that  her  dreams  contemplated  when  tiie  war 
began.  If  she  can  keep  that,  her  power  can  disturb  the  world 
as  long  as  she  keeps  it,  always  provided,  for  I  feel  bound  to 
put  this  proviso  in — always  provided  the  present  influences 
that  control  the  German  Government  continue  to  control  it. 
I  believe  that  the  spirit  of  freedom  can  get  into  the  hearts  of 
Germans  and  find  as  fine  a  welcome  there  as  it  can  find  in 
any  other  hearts,  but  the  spirit  of  freedom  does  not  suit  the 
plans  of  the  Pan-Germans.  Power  can  not  be  used  with 
concentrated  force  against  free  peoples  if  it  is  used  by  free 
people.  *  *  * 

While  we  are  fighting  for  freedom  we  must  see,  among 


Nov.  12]  LABOR  AND  THE  WAR  229 

other  things,  that  labor  is  free;  and  that  means  a  number  of 
interesting  things.  It  means  not  only  that  we  must  do  what 
we  have  declared  our  purpose  to  do,  see  that  the  conditions 
of  labor  are  not  rendered  more  onerous  by  the  war,  but  also 
that  we  shall  see  to  it  that  the  instrumentalities  by  which  the 
conditions  of  labor  are  improved  are  not  blocked  or  checked. 
That  we  must  do.  That  has  been  the  matter  about  which  I 
have  taken  pleasure  in  conferring  from  time  to  time  with 
your  president,  Mr.  Gompers;  and  if  I  may  be  permitted  to 
do  so,  I  want  to  express  my  admiration  of  his  patriotic  cour- 
age, his  large  vision,  and  his  statesmanlike  sense  of  what  has 
to  be  done.  I  like  to  lay  my  mind  alongside  of  a  mind  that 
knows  how  to  pull  in  harness.  The  horses  that  kick  over 
the  traces  will  have  to  be  put  in  corral. 

Now,  to  stand  together  means  that  nobody  must  interrupt 
the  processes  of  our  energy  if  the  interruption  can  possibly 
be  avoided  without  the  absolute  invasion  of  freedom.  To  put 
it  concretely,  that  means  this:  Nobody  has  a  right  to  stop 
the  processes  of  labor  until  all  the  methods  of  conciliation  and 
settlement  have  been  exhausted.  And  I  might  as  well  say 
right  here  that  I  am  not  talking  to  you  alone.  You  some- 
times stop  the  courses  of  labor,  but  tiere  are  others  who  do 
the  same,  and  I  believe  I  am  speaking  from  my  own  experi- 
ence not  only,  but  from  the  experience  of  others  when  I  say 
that  you  are  reasonable  in  a  larger  number  of  cases  than  the 
capitalists.  I  am  not  saying  these  things  to  them  personally 
yet,  because  I  have  not  had  a  chance,  but  they  have  to  be 
said,  not  in  any  spirit  of  criticism,  but  in  order  to  clear  the 
atmosphere  and  come  down  to  business.  Everybody  on  both 
sides  has  now  got  to  transact  business,  and  a  settlement  is 
never  impossible  when  both  sides  want  to  do  the  square  and 
right  thing. 

Moreover,  a  settlement  is  always  hard  to  avoid  when  the 
parties  can  be  brought  face  to  face.  I  can  differ  from  a  man 
much  more  radically  when  he  is  not  in  the  room  than  I  can 
when  he  is  in  the  room,  because  then  the  awkward  thing  is 
he  can  come  back  at  me  and  answer  what  I  say.  It  is  always 
dangerous  for  a  man  to  have  the  floor  entirely  to  himself. 
Therefore,  we  must  insist  in  every  instance  that  the  parties 
come  into  each  other's  presence  and  there  discuss  the  issues 


230    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

between  them,  and  not  separately  in  places  which  have  no 
communication  with  each  other.  I  always  like  to  remind 
myself  of  a  delightful  saying  of  an  Englishman  of  the  past 
generation,  Charles  Lamb.  He  stuttered  a  little  bit,  and  once 
when  he  was  with  a  group  of  friends  he  spoke  very  harshly 
of  some  man  who  was  not  present.  One  of  his  friends  said: 
"Why,  Charles,  I  didn't  know  that  you  knew  so  and  so." 
"0-o-oh,"  he  said,  "I-I  d-d-don't;  I-I  can't  h-h-hate  a  m-m^ 
man  I-I  know."  There  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature,  of 
very  pleasant  human  nature,  in  the  saying.  It  is  hard  to 
hate  a  man  you  know.  I  may  admit,  parenthetically,  that 
there  are  some  politicians  whose  methods  I  do  not  at  all 
believe  in,  but  they  are  jolly  good  fellows,  and  if  they  only 
would  not  talk  the  wrong  kind  of  politics  to  me,  I  would  love 
to  be  with  them. 

So  it  is  all  along  the  line,  in  serious  matters  and  things  less 
serious.  We  are  all  of  the  same  clay  and  spirit,  and  we  can 
get  together  if  we  desire  to  get  together.  Therefore,  my  coun- 
sel to  you  is  this:  Let  us  show  ourselves  Americans  by  show- 
ing that  we  do  not  want  to  go  off  in  separate  camps  or  groups 
by  ourselves,  but  that  we  want  to  cooperate  with  all  other 
classes  and  all  other  groups  in  the  common  enterprise  which 
is  to  release  the  spirits  of  the  world  from  bondage.  I  would 
be  willing  to  set  that  up  as  the  final  test  of  an  American. 
That  is  the  meaning  of  democracy.  I  have  been  very  much 
distressed,  my  fellow  citizens,  by  some  of  the  things  that  have 
happened  recently.  The  mob  spirit  is  displaying  itself  here 
and  there  in  this  country.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  what 
some  men  are  saying,  but  1  have  no  sympathy  with  the  men 
who  take  their  punishment  into  their  own  hands;  and  I 
want  to  say  to  every  man  who  does  join  such  a  mob  that  I 
do  not  recognize  him  as  worthy  (d  the  free  institutions  of  the 
United  States.  There  are  some  organizations  in  this  country 
whose  object  is  anarchy  and  the  destruction  of  law,  but  I 
would  not  meet  their  efforts  by  making  myself  partner  in  de- 
stroying the  law.  I  despise  and  hate  their  purposes  as  much 
as  any  man,  but  I  respect  the  ancient  processes  of  justice; 
and  I  would  be  too  proud  not  to  see  them  done  justice,  how- 
ever wrong  they  are.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet.     ■ 


Nov.  1 6]  UNIVERSAL  LOYALTY  231 

73.    UNIVERSAL  LOYALTY 

(November  16,  19 17) 

Telegram  to  the  Northwest  Loyalty  Meetings, 
St.  Paul 

Nothing  could  be  more  significant  than  your  gathering  to 
express  the  loyalty  of  the  great  Northwest.  If  it  were  pos- 
sible I  should  gladly  be  with  you.  You  have  come  together 
as  the  representatives  of  that  Western  empire  in  which  the 
sons  of  all  sections  of  America  and  the  stocks  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  have  made  the  prairie  and  the  forest  the 
home  of  a  new  race  and  the  temple  of  a  new  faith. 

The  time  has  come  when  that  home  must  be  protected  and 
that  faith  affirmed  in  deeds.  Sacrifice  and  service  must  come 
from  every  class,  every  profession,  every  party,  every  race, 
every  creed,  every  section.  This  is  not  a  banker's  war  or 
a  farmer's  war  or  a  manufacturer's  war  or  a  laboring  man's 
war — it  is  a  war  for  every  straight-out  American  whether  our 
flag  be  his  by  birth  or  by  adoption. 

We  are  to-day  a  Nation  in  arms,  and  we  must  fight  and 
farm,  mine  and  manufacture,  conserve  food  and  fuel,  save 
and  spend,  to  the  one  common  purpose.  It  is  to  the  great 
Northwest  that  the  Nation  looks,  as  once  before  in  critical 
days,  for  that  steadiness  of  purpose  and  firmness  of  deter- 
mination which  shall  see  this  struggle  through  to  a  decision 
that  shall  make  the  masters  of  Germany  rue  the  day  they 
unmasked  their  purpose  and  challenged  our  Republic. 

New  York  Times,  Nov.  17,  19 17. 

74.     SYMPATHY  WITH  THE  BELGIANS 

(November  16,  19 17) 

Cablegram  to  King  Albert  of  Belgium 

I  take  pleasure  in  extending  to  Your  Majesty  greetings  of 
friendship  and  good  will  on  this  your  fete  day. 


232    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT  WILSON     [1917 

For  the  people  of  the  United  States,  I  take  this  occasion 
to  renew  expressions  of  deep  sympathy  for  the  sufferings 
which  Belgium  has  endured  under  the  willful,  cruel  and  bar- 
baric force  of  a  disappointed  Prussian  autocracy. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  were  never  more  in  ear- 
nest than  in  their  determination  to  prosecute  to  a  successful 
conclusion  this  war  against  that  power  and  to  secure  for  the 
future  obedience  to  the  laws  of  nations  and  respect  for  the 
rights  of  humanity. 

New  York  Times,  Nov.  17,  19 17. 


75.    EXTENSION    OF    THE   WAR   TO   AUSTRIA- 
HUNGARY 

(December  4,  19 17) 

Address  to  Congress 

*  *  *  I  shall  not  go  back  to  debate  the  causes  of  the  war. 
The  intolerable  wrongs  done  and  planned  against  us  by  the 
sinister  masters  of  Germany  have  long  since  become  too 
grossly  obvious  and  odious  to  every  true  American  to  need 
to  be  rehearsed.  But  I  shall  ask  you  to  consider  again  and 
with  a  very  grave  scrutiny  our  objectives  and  the  measures 
by  which  we  mean  to  attain  them;  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
cussion here  in  this  place  is  action,  and  our  action  must  move 
straight  towards  definite  ends.  Our  object  is,  of  course,  to 
win  the  war;  and  we  shall  not  slacken  or  suffer  ourselves  to 
be  diverted  until  it  is  won.  But  it  is  worth  while  asking  and 
answering  the  question.  When  shall  we  consider  the  war 
won? 

From  one  point  of  view  it  is  not  necessary  to  broach  this 
fundamental  matter.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  American 
people  know  what  the  war  is  about  and  what  sort  of  an  out- 
come they  will  regard  as  a  realization  of  their  purpose  in  it. 
As  a  nation  we  are  united  in  spirit  and  intention.  I  pay 
little  heed  to  those  who  tell  me  otherwise.  I  hear  the  voices 
of  dissent, — who  does  not?  I  hear  the  criticism  and  the 
clamour  of  the  noisily  thoughtless  and  troublesome.    I  also 


Dec.  4]        WAR  WITH  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  233 

see  men  here  and  there  fling  themselves  in  impotent  disloy- 
alty against  the  calm,  indomitable  power  of  the  nation.  I 
hear  men  debate  peace  who  imderstand  neither  its  nature  nor 
the  way  in  which  we  may  attain  it  with  uplifted  eyes  and 
unbroken  spirits.  But  I  know  that  none  of  these  speaks  for 
the  nation.  They  do  not  touch  the  heart  of  anything.  They 
may  safely  be  left  to  strut  their  uneasy  hour  and  be  for- 
gotten. 

But  from  another  point  of  view  I  believe  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  say  plainly  what  we  here  at  the  seat  of  action  consider 
the  war  to  be  for  and  what  part  we  mean  to  play  in  the  set- 
tlement of  its  searching  issues.  We  are  the  spokesmen  of  the 
American  people  and  they  have  a  right  to  know  whether  their 
purpose  is  ours.  They  desire  peace  by  the  overcoming  of 
evil,  by  the  defeat  once  for  all  of  the  sinister  forces  that  in- 
terrupt peace  and  render  it  impossible,  and  they  wish  to  know 
how  closely  our  thought  runs  with  theirs  and  what  action  we 
propose.  They  are  impatient  with  those  who  desire  peace  by 
any  sort  of  compromise, — deeply  and  indignantly  impatient, 
— but  they  will  be  equally  impatient  with  us  if  we  do  not 
make  it  plain  to  them  what  our  objectives  are  and  what  we 
are  planning  for  in  seeking  to  make  conquest  of  peace  by 
arms. 

I  believe  that  I  speak  for  them  when  I  say  two  things: 
First,  that  this  intolerable  Thing  of  which  the  masters  of 
Germany  have  shown  us  the  ugly  face,  this  menace  of  com- 
bined intrigue  and  force  which  we  now  see  so  clearly  as  the 
German  power,  A  Thing  without  conscience  or  honor  or 
capacity  for  covenanted  peace,  must  be  crushed  and,  if  it  be 
not  utterly  brought  to  an  end,  at  least  shut  out  from  the 
friendly  intercourse  of  the  nations;  and,  second,  that  when 
this  Thing  and  its  power  are  indeed  defeated  and  the  time 
comes  that  we  can  discuss  peace, — when  the  German  people 
have  spokesmen  whose  word  we  can  believe  and  when  those 
spokesmen  are  ready  in  the  name  of  their  people  to  accept 
the  common  judgment  of  the  nations  as  to  what  shall  hence- 
forth be  the  bases  of  law  and  of  covenant  for  the  life  of  the 
world, — we  shall  be  willing  and  glad  to  pay  the  full  price  for 
peace,  and  pay  it  ungrudgingly.  We  know  what  that  price 
will  be.     It  will  be  full,  impartial  justice, — justice  done  at 


234     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [19 17 

every  point  and  to  every  nation  that  the  final  settlement  must 
affect,  our  enemies  as  well  as  our  friends. 

You  catch,  with  me,  the  voices  of  humanity  that  are  in 
the  air.  They  grow  daily  more  audible,  more  articulate,  more 
persuasive,  and  they  come  from  the  hearts  of  men  every- 
where. They  insist  that  the  war  shall  not  end  in  vindictive 
action  of  any  kind;  that  no  nation  or  people  shall  be  robbed 
or  punished  because  the  irresponsible  rulers  of  a  single  coun- 
try have  themselves  done  deep  and  abominable  wrong.  It  is 
this  thought  that  has  been  expressed  in  the  formula,  "No  an- 
nexations, no  contributions,  no  punitive  indemnities."  Just 
because  this  crude  formula  expresses  the  instinctive  judgment 
as  to  right  of  plain  men  everywhere  it  has  been  made  diligent 
use  of  by  the  masters  of  German  intrigue  to  lead  the  people 
of  Russia  astray — and  the  people  of  every  other  country 
their  agents  could  reach,  in  order  that  a  premature  peace 
might  be  brought  about  before  autocracy  has  been  taught  its 
final  and  convincing  lesson,  and  the  people  of  the  world  put 
in  control  of  their  own  destinies. 

But  the  fact  that  a  wrong  use  has  been  made  of  a  just 
idea  is  no  reason  why  a  right  use  should  not  be  made  of  it. 
It  ought  to  be  brought  under  the  patronage  of  its  real  friends. 
Let  it  be  said  again  that  autocracy  must  first  be  shown  the 
utter  futility  of  its  claims  to  power  or  leadership  in  the  mod- 
ern world.  It  is  impossible  to  apply  any  standard  of  justice 
so  long  as  such  forces  are  unchecked  and  undefeated  as  the 
present  masters  of  Germany  command.  Not  until  that  has 
been  done  can  Right  be  set  up  as  arbiter  and  peace-maker 
among  the  nations.  But  when  that  has  been  done, — as,  God 
willing,  it  assuredly  will  be, — we  must  at  last  be  free  to  do  an 
unprecedented  thing,  and  this  is  the  time  to  avow  our  purpose 
to  do  it.  We  shall  be  free  to  base  peace  on  generosity  and 
justice,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  selfish  claims  to  advantage  on 
the  part  of  the  victors. 

Let  there  be  no  misunderstanding.  Our  present  and  im- 
mediate task  is  to  win  the  war,  and  nothing  shall  turn  us 
aside  from  it  until  it  is  accomplished.  Every  power  and  re- 
source we  possess,  whether  of  men,  of  money,  or  of  materials, 
is  being  devoted  and  will  continue  to  be  devoted  to  that  pur- 
pose until  it  is  achieved.    Those  who  desire  to  bring  peace 

I 


Dec.  4]        WAR  WITH  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  235 

about  before  that  purpose  is  achieved  I  counsel  to  carry  their 
advice  elsewhere.  We  will  not  entertain  it.  We  shall  regard 
the  war  as  won  only  when  the  German  people  say  to  us, 
through  properly  accredited  representatives,  that  they  are 
ready  to  agree  to  a  settlement  based  upon  justice  and  the 
reparation  of  the  wrongs  their  rulers  have  done.  They  have 
done  a  wrong  to  Belgium  which  must  be  repaired.  They  have 
established  a  power  over  other  lands  and  peoples  than  their 
own, — over  the  great  Empire  of  Austria-Hungary,  over  hith- 
erto free  Balkan  states,  over  Turkey,  and  within  Asia, — which 
must  be  relinquished. 

*  *  *  The  peace  we  make  must  remedy  that  wrong.  It 
must  deliver  the  once  fair  lands  and  happy  peoples  of  Bel- 
gium and  northern  France  from  the  Prussian  conquest  and 
the  Prussian  menace,  but  it  must  also  deliver  the  peoples 
of  Austria-Hungary,  the  peoples  of  the  Balkans,  and  the 
peoples  of  Turkey,  alike  in  Europe  and  in  Asia,  from  the  im- 
pudent and  alien  dominion  of  the  Prussian  military  and  com- 
mercial autocracy. 

We  owe  it,  however,  to  ourselves  to  say  that  we  do  not 
wish  in  any  way  to  impair  or  to  rearrange  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Empire.  It  is  no  affair  of  ours  what  they  do  with 
their  own  life,  either  industrially  or  politically.  We  do  not 
purpose  or  desire  to  dictate  to  them  in  any  way.  We  only 
desire  to  see  that  their  affairs  are  left  in  their  own  hands,  in 
all  matters,  great  or  small.  We  shall  hope  to  secure  for  the 
peoples  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  for  the  people  of  the 
Turkish  Empire  the  right  and  opp)ortunity  to  make  their  own 
lives  safe,  their  own  fortunes  secure  against  oppression  or 
injustice  and  from  the  dictation  of  foreign  courts  or  parties. 
And  our  attitude  and  purpose  with  regard  to  Germany  her- 
self are  of  a  like  kind.  We  intend  no  wrong  against  the 
German  Empire,  no  interference  with  her  internal  affairs. 
We  should  deem  either  the  one  or  the  other  absolutely  un- 
justifiable, absolutely  contrary  to  the  principles  we  have 
professed  to  live  by  and  to  hold  most  sacred  throughout  our 
life  as  a  nation. 

The  people  of  Germany  are  being  told  by  the  men  whom 
they  now  permit  to  deceive  them  and  to  act  as  their  masters 
that  they  are  fighting  for  the  very  life  and  existence  of  their 


236    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT  WILSON     [19 17 

Empire,  a  war  of  desperate  self-defense  against  deliberate 
aggression.  Nothing  could  be  more  grossly  or  wantonly  false, 
and  we  must  seek  by  the  utmost  openness  and  candour  as  to 
our  real  aims  to  convince  them  of  its  falseness.  We  are  in 
fact  fighting  for  their  emancipation  from  fear,  along  with  our 
own, — from  the  fear  as  well  as  from  the  fact  of  unjust  at- 
tack by  neighbors  or  rivals  or  schemers  after  world  empire. 
No  one  is  threatening  the  existence  or  the  independence  or 
the  peaceful  enterprise  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  worst  that  can  happen  to  the  detriment  of  the  Ger- 
man people  is  this,  that  if  they  should  still,  after  the  war  is 
over,  continue  to  be  obliged  to  live  under  ambitious  and  in- 
triguing masters  interested  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world, 
men  or  classes  of  men  whom  the  other  peoples  of  the  world 
could  not  trust,  it  might  be  impossible  to  admit  them  to  the 
partnership  of  nations  which  must  henceforth  guarantee  the 
world's  peace.  That  partnership  must  be  a  partnership  of 
peoples,  not  a  mere  partnership  of  governments.  It  might 
be  impossible,  also,  in  such  untoward  circumstances,  to  admit 
Germany  to  the  free  economic  intercourse  which  must  inevi- 
tably spring  out  of  the  other  partnerships  of  a  real  peace. 
But  there  would  be  no  aggression  in  that;  and  such  a  situa- 
tion, inevitable  because  of  distrust,  would  in  the  very  nature 
of  things  sooner  or  later  cure  itself,  by  processes  which  would 
assuredly  set  in. 

The  wrongs,  the  very  deep  wrongs,  committed  in  this  war 
will  have  to  be  righted.  That  of  course.  But  they  cannot 
and  must  not  be  righted  by  the  commission  of  similar  wrongs 
against  Germany  and  her  allies.  The  world  will  not  permit 
the  commission  of  similar  wrongs  as  a  means  of  reparation 
and  settlement.  Statesmen  must  by  this  time  have  learned 
that  the  opinion  of  the  world  is  everywhere  wide  awake  and 
fully  comprehends  the  issues  involved.  No  representative  of 
any  self-governed  nation  will  dare  disregard  it  by  attempting 
any  such  covenants  of  selfishness  and  compromise  as  were 
entered  into  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  The  thought  of  the 
plain  people  here  and  everywhere  throughout  the  world,  the 
people  who  enjoy  no  privilege  and  have  very  simple  and  un- 
sophisticated standards  of  right  and  wrong,  is  the  air  all 
governments  must  henceforth  breathe  if  they  would  live.    It 


Dec.  4]        WAR  WITH  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY  237 

is  in  the  full  disclosing  light  of  that  thought  that  all  policies 
must  be  conceived  and  executed  in  this  midday  hour  of  the 
world's  life.  German  rulers  have  been  able  to  upset  the  peace 
of  the  world  only  because  the  German  people  were  not  suf- 
fered under  their  tutelage  to  share  the  comradeship  of  the 
other  peoples  of  the  world  either  in  thought  or  in  purpose. 
They  were  allowed  to  have  no  opinion  of  their  own  which 
might  be  set  up  as  a  rule  of  conduct  for  those  who  exercised 
authority  over  them.  But  the  congress  that  concludes  this 
war  will  feel  the  full  strength  of  the  tides  that  run  now  in  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  free  men  everywhere.  Its  con- 
clusions will  run  Vvith  those  tides.  *  *  * 

From  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  has  seemed  to  be  my 
duty  to  speak  these  declarations  of  purpose,  to  add  these 
specific  interpretations  to  what  I  took  the  liberty  of  saying  to 
the  Senate  in  January.  Our  entrance  into  the  war  has  not 
altered  our  attitude  towards  the  settlement  that  must  come 
when  it  is  over.  When  I  said  in  January  that  the  nations  of 
the  world  were  entitled  not  only  to  free  pathways  upon  the 
sea  but  also  to  assured  and  unmolested  access  to  those  path- 
ways I  was  thinking,  and  I  am  thinking  now,  not  of  the 
smaller  and  weaker  nations  alone,  which  need  our  counte- 
nance and  support,  but  also  of  the  great  and  powerful  nations, 
and  of  our  present  enemies  as  well  as  our  present  associates 
in  the  war.  I  was  thinking,  and  am  thinking  now,  of  Austria 
herself,  among  the  rest,  as  well  as  of  Serbia  and  of  Poland. 
Justice  and  equality  of  rights  can  be  had  only  at  a  great 
price.  We  are  seeking  permanent,  not  temporary,  founda- 
tions for  the  peace  of  the  world  and  must  seek  them  candidly 
and  fearlessly.  As  always,  the  right  will  prove  to  be  the 
expedient. 

What  shall  we  do,  then,  to  push  this  great  war  of  freedom 
and  justice  to  its  righteous  conclusion?  We  must  clear  away 
with  a  thorough  hand  all  impediments  to  success  and  we  must 
make  every  adjustment  of  law  that  will  facilitate  the  full  and 
free  use  of  our  whole  capacity  and  force  as  a  fighting  unit. 

One  very  embarrassing  obstacle  that  stands  in  our  way  is 
that  we  are  at  war  with  Germany  but  not  with  her  allies. 
I  therefore  very  earnestly  recommend  that  the  Congress  im- 
mediately declare  the  United  States  in  a  state  of  war  with 


238    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

Austria-Hungary.  Does  it  seem  strange  to  you  that  this 
should  be  the  conclusion  of  the  argument  I  have  just  ad- 
dressed to  you?  It  is  not.  It  is  in  fact  the  inevitable  logic 
of  what  I  have  said.  Austria-Hungary  is  for  the  time  being 
not  her  own  mistress  but  simply  the  vassal  of  the  German 
Government.  We  must  face  the  facts  as  they  are  and  act 
upon  them  without  sentiment  in  this  stem  business.  The 
government  of  Austria-Hungary  is  not  acting  upon  its  own 
initiative  or  in  response  to  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  its  own 
peoples  but  as  the  instrument  of  another  nation.  We  must 
meet  its  force  with  our  own  and  regard  the  Central  Powers 
as  but  one.  The  war  can  be  successfully  conducted  in  no 
other  way.  The  same  logic  would  lead  also  to  a  declaration 
of  war  against  Turkey  and  Bulgaria.  They  also  are  the  tools 
of  Germany.  But  they  are  mere  tools  and  do  not  yet  stand 
in  the  direct  path  of  our  necessary  action.  We  shall  go 
wherever  the  necessities  of  this  war  carry  us,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  we  should  go  only  where  immediate  and  practical 
considerations  lead  us  and  not  heed  any  others.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


76.    GOVERNMENT  CONTROL  OF  RAILROADS 

(December  26,  191 7) 
Public  Statement 

I  have  exercised  the  powers  over  the  transportation  sys- 
tems of  the  country  which  were  granted  me  by  the  act  of 
Congress  last  August  because  it  has  become  imperatively 
necessary  for  me  to  do  so. 

This  is  a  war  of  resources  no  less  than  of  men,  perhaps 
even  more  than  of  men,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the  complete 
mobilization  of  our  resources  that  the  transportation  systems 
of  the  country  should  be  organized  and  employed  under  a 
single  authority  and  a  simplified  method  of  coordination 
which  have  not  proved  possible  under  private  management 
and  control. 

The  Committee  of  Railway  Executives  who  have  been  co- 


Dec.  26]     GOVERNMENT  AND  RAILROADS         239 

operating  with  the  Government  in  this  all-important  matter 
have  done  the  utmost  that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do; 
have  done  it  with  patriotic  zeal  and  with  great  ability,  but 
there  were  differences  that  they  could  neither  escape  nor  neu- 
tralize. Complete  unity  of  administration  in  the  present  cir- 
cumstances involves  upon  occasion  and  at  many  points  a 
serious  dislocation  of  earnings,  and  the  committee  was,  of 
course,  without  power  or  authority  to  rearrange  changes  or 
effect  proper  compensations  and  adjustments  of  earnings. 
Several  roads  which  were  willingly  and  with  admirable  public 
spirit  accepting  the  orders  of  the  committee  have  already 
suffered  from  these  circumstances,  and  should  not  be  required 
to  suffer  further.  In  mere  fairness  to  them  the  full  authority 
Df  the  Government  must  be  substituted.  The  Government 
itself  will  thereby  gain  an  immense  increase  of  efficiency  in 
the  conduct  of  the  war  and  of  the  innumerable  activities 
jpon  which  its  successful  conduct  depends. 

The  public  interest  must  be  first  served,  and,  in  addition, 
the  financial  interests  of  the  Government  and  the  financial  in- 
terests of  the  railways  must  be  brought  under  a  common 
direction.  The  financial  operations  of  the  railways  need  no'l 
then  interfere  with  the  borrowings  of  the  Government,  and 
they  themselves  can  be  conducted  at  a  great  advantage.  In- 
vestors in  railway  securities  may  rest  assured  that  their  rights 
and  interests  will  be  as  scrupulously  looked  after  by  thef 
Government  as  they  could  be  by  the  directors  of  the  several 
railway  systems. 

Immediately  upon  the  reassembling  of  Congress  I  shal/i 
recommend  that  these  definite  guarantees  be  given.  First,  of 
course,  that  the  railway  properties  will  be  maintained  duringj 
the  period  of  Federal  control  in  as  good  repair  and  as  com- 
plete equipment  as  when  taken  over  by  the  Government,  and, 
S  second,  that  the  roads  shall  receive  a  net  operating  income 
equal  in  each  case  to  the  average  net  income  of  the  three 
years  preceding  June  30,  191 7;  and  I  am  entirely  confident 
that  the  Congress  will  be  disposed  in  this  case,  as  in  others, 
to  see  that  justice  is  done  smd  full  security  assured  to  the 
owners  and  creditors  of  the  great  systems  which  the  Gov- 
ernment must  now  use  under  its  own  direction  or  else  suffer 
serious  embarrassment. 


240     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1917 

The  Secretary  of  War  and  I  are  agreed  that,  all  the  cir- 
cumstances being  taken  into  consideration,  the  best  results 
can  be  obtained  under  the  immediate  executive  direction  of 
the  Hon.  William  G.  McAdoo,  whose  practical  experience  pe- 
culiarly fits  him  for  the  service  and  whose  authority  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  enable  him  to  coordinate  as 
no  other  man  could,  the  many  financial  interests  which  will 
be  involved  and  which  might,  unless  systematically  directed, 
suffer  very  embarrassing  entanglements. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  the  only  great 
Government  now  engaged  in  the  war  which  has  not  already 
assumed  control  of  this  sort.  It  was  thought  to  be  in  the 
spirit  of  American  institutions  to  attempt  to  do  everything 
that  was  necessary  through  private  management,  and  if  zeal 
and  ability  and  patriotic  motive  could  have  accomplished 
the  necessary  unification  of  administration,  it  would  certainly 
have  been  accomplished;  but  no  zeal  or  ability  could  over- 
come insuperable  obstacles  and  I  have  deemed  it  my  duty 
to  recognize  that  fact  in  all  candor,  now  that  it  is  demon- 
strated, and  to  use  without  reserve  the  great  authority  re- 
posed in  me.  A  great  national  necessity  dictated  the  action, 
and  I  was  therefore  not  at  liberty  to  abstain  from  it. 

New  York  Times ,  Dec.  27,  19 17. 


YEAR    1918 

77.    ORGANIZATION  FOR  THE  WAR 

(January  4,  1918) 
Address  to  Congress 

I  have  asked  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  in  order  to 
report  to  you  that  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  December  last, 
during  the  recess  of  the  Congress,  acting  through  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  and  under  the  authority  conferred  upon  me  by 
the  Act  of  Congress  approved  August  29,  19 16,  I  took  pos- 
session and  assumed  control  of  the  railway  lines  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  systems  of  water  transportation  under  their  con- 
trol. This  step  seemed  to  be  imperatively  necessary  in  the 
interest  of  the  public  welfare,  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
tasks  of  war  with  which  we  are  now  dealing.  As  our  own 
experience  develops  difficulties  and  makes  it  clear  what  they 
are,  I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  remove  those  difficulties 
wherever  I  have  the  legal  power  to  do  so.  To  assume  control 
of  the  vast  railway  systems  of  the  country  is,  I  realize,  a  very 
great  responsibility,  but  to  fail  to  do  so  in  the  existing  cir- 
cumstances would  have  been  a  much  greater.  I  assumed  the 
less  responsibility  rather  than  the  weightier. 

I  am  sure  that  I  am  speaking  the  mind  of  all  thoughtful 
Americans  when  I  say  that  it  is  our  duty  as  the  representa- 
tives of  the  nation  to  do  everything  that  it  is  necessary  to  do 
to  secure  the  complete  mobilization  of  the  whole  resources  of 
America  by  as  rapid  and  effective  means  as  can  be  found. 
Transportation  supplies  all  the  arteries  of  mobilization.  Un- 
less it  be  under  a  single  and  unified  direction,  the  whole 
process  of  the  nation's  action  is  embarrassed. 

It  was  in  the  true  spirit  of  America,  and  it  was  right,  that 
241 


242     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

we  should  first  try  to  effect  the  necessary  unification  under 
the  voluntary  action  of  those  who  were  in  charge  of  the  great 
railway  properties;  and  we  did  try  it.  The  directors  of  the 
railways  responded  to  the  need  promptly  and  generously. 
The  group  of  railway  executives  who  were  charged  with  the 
task  of  actual  coordination  and  general  direction  performed 
their  difficult  duties  with  patriotic  zeal  and  marked  ability, 
as  was  to  have  been  expected,  and  did,  I  believe,  everything 
that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  do  in  the  circumstances.  If 
I  have  taken  the  task  out  of  their  hands,  it  has  not  been 
because  of  any  dereliction  or  failure  on  their  part  but  only 
because  there  were  some  things  which  the  Government  can 
do  and  private  management  cannot.  We  shall  continue  to 
value  most  highly  the  advice  and  assistance  of  these  gentle- 
men and  I  am  sure  we  shall  not  find  them  withholding  it. 

It  had  become  unmistakably  plain  that  only  under  gov- 
ernment administration  can  the  entire  equipment  of  the 
several  systems  of  transportation  be  fully  and  unreservedly 
thrown  into  a  common  service  without  injurious  discrimina- 
tion against  particular  properties.  Only  under  government 
administration  can  an  absolutely  unrestricted  and  unembar- 
rassed common  use  be  made  of  all  tracks,  terminals,  terminal 
facilities  and  equipment  of  every  kind.  Only  under  that 
authority  can  new  terminals  be  constructed  and  developed 
without  regard  to  the  requirements  or  limitations  of  particular 
roads.  But  under  government  administration  all  these  things 
will  be  possible, — not  instantly,  but  as  fast  as  practical  dif- 
fulties,  which  cannot  be  merely  conjured  away,  give  way  be- 
fore the  new  management. 

The  common  administration  will  be  carried  out  with  as 
little  disturbance  of  the  present  operating  organizations  and 
personnel  of  the  railways  as  possible.  Nothing  will  be  altered 
or  disturbed  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  disturb.  We  are 
serving  the  public  interest  and  safeguarding  the  public  safety, 
but  we  are  also  regardful  of  the  interest  of  those  by  whom 
these  great  properties  are  owned  and  glad  to  avail  ourselves 
of  the  experience  and  trained  ability  of  those  who  have  been 
managing  them.  It  is  necessary  that  the  transportation  of 
troops  and  of  war  materials,  of  food  and  of  fuel,  and  of 
everything  that  is  necessary  for  the  full  mobilization  of  the 


Jan.  4]        ORGANIZATION  FOR  THE  WAR  243 

energies  and  resources  of  the  country,  should  be  first  con- 
sidered, but  it  is  clearly  in  the  public  interest  also  that  the 
ordinary  activities  and  the  normal  industrial  and  commercial 
life  of  the  country  should  be  interfered  with  and  dislocated 
es  little  as  possible,  and  the  public  may  rest  assured  that  the 
interest  and  convenience  of  the  private  shipper  will  be  a& 
carefully  served  and  safeguarded  as  it  is  possible  to  serve  and 
safegard  it  in  the  present  extraordinary  circumstances. 

While  the  present  authority  of  the  Executive  suffices  for  all 
purposes  of  administration,  and  while  of  course  all  private 
interests  must  for  the  present  give  way  to  the  public  neces- 
sity, it  is,  I  am  sure  you  will  agree  with  me,  right  and  neces- 
sary that  the  owners  and  creditors  of  the  railways,  the  hold- 
ers of  their  stocks  and  bonds,  should  receive  from  the  Govern- 
ment an  unqualified  guarantee  that  their  properties  will  be 
maintained  throughout  the  period  of  federal  control  in  as 
good  repair  and  as  complete  equipment  as  at  present,  and  that 
the  several  roads  will  receive  under  federal  management  such 
compensation  as  is  equitable  and  just  alike  to  their  owners 
and  to  the  general  public.  I  would  suggest  the  average  net 
railway  operating  income  of  the  three  years  ending  June  30, 
19 1 7.  I  earnestly  recommend  that  these  guarantees  be  given 
by  appropriate  legislation,  and  given  as  promptly  as  circum- 
stances permit. 

I  need  not  point  out  the  essential  justice  of  such  guarantees 
and  their  great  influence  and  significance  as  elements  in  the 
present  financial  and  industrial  situation  of  the  country.  In- 
deed, one  of  the  strong  arguments  for  assuming  control  of 
the  railroads  at  this  time  is  the  financial  argument.  It  i:; 
necessary  that  the  values  of  railway  securities  should  be 
justly  and  fairly  protected  and  that  the  large  financial  oper- 
ations every  year  necessary  in  connection  with  the  mainte- 
nance, operation  and  development  of  the  roads  should, 
during  the  period  of  the  war,  be  wisely  related  to  the  financiai 
operations  of  the  Government.  Our  first  duty  is,  of  course, 
to  conserve  the  common  interest  and  the  common  safety  and 
to  make  certain  that  nothing  stands  in  the  way  of  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  great  war  for  liberty  and  justice, 
but  it  is  also  an  obligation  of  public  conscience  and  of  public 
honor  that  the  private  interests  we  disturb  should  be  kept 


244     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

safe  from  unjust  injury,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost  consequence 
to  the  Government  itself  that  all  great  financial  operations 
should  be  stabilized  and  coordinated  with  the  financial  oper- 
ations of  the  Government.  No  borrowing  should  run  athwart 
the  borrowings  of  the  federal  treasury,  and  no  fundamental 
industrial  values  should  anywhere  be  unnecessarily  impaired. 
In  the  hands  of  many  thousands  of  small  investors  in  the 
country,  as  well  as  in  national  banks,  in  insurance  companies, 
in  savings  banks,  in  trust  companies,  in  financial  agencies  of 
every  kind,  railway  securities,  the  sum  total  of  which  nms 
up  to  some  ten  or  eleven  thousand  millions,  constitute  a  vital 
part  of  the  structure  of  credit,  and  the  unquestioned  solidity 
of  that  structure  must  be  maintained.  *  *  * 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


78.    FOURTEEN  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE 

(January  8,  19 18) 

Address  to  Congress 

Once  more,  as  repeatedly  before,  the  spokesmen  of  the 
Central  Empires  have  indicated  their  desire  to  discuss  the 
objects  of  the  war  and  the  possible  bases  of  a  general  peace. 
Parleys  have  been  in  progress  at  Brest-Litovsk  between  Rus- 
sian representatives  and  representatives  of  the  Central  Pow- 
ers to  which  the  attention  of  all  the  belligerents  has  been 
invited  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  it  may  be 
possible  to  extend  these  parleys  into  a  general  conference 
with  regard  to  terms  of  peace  and  settlement.  The  Russian 
representatives  presented  not  only  a  perfectly  definite  state- 
ment of  the  principles  upon  which  they  would  be  willing  to 
conclude  peace  but  also  an  equally  definite  programme  of 
the  concrete  application  of  those  principles.  The  represen- 
tatives of  the  Central  Powers,  on  their  part,  presented  an 
outline  of  settlement  which,  if  much  less  definite,  seemed 
susceptible  of  liberal  interpretation  until  their  specific  pro- 
gramme of  practical  terms  was  added.  That  programme  pro- 
posed no  concessions  at  all  either  to  the  sovereignty  of  Russia 


Jan.  8]      FOURTEEN  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE      245 

or  to  the  preferences  of  the  populations  with  whose  fortunes 
it  dealt,  but  meant,  in  a  word,  that  the  Central  Empires  were 
to  keep  every  foot  of  territory  their  armed  forces  had  occu- 
pied,— every  province,  every  city,  every  point  of  vantage, — 
as  a  permanent  addition  to  their  territories  and  their  power. 
It  is  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  the  general  principles  of 
settlement  which  they  at  first  suggested  originated  with  the 
more  liberal  statesmen  of  Germany  and  Austria,  the  men  who 
have  begun  to  feel  the  force  of  their  own  peoples'  thought  and 
purpose,  while  the  concrete  terms  of  atrtual  settlement  came 
from  the  military  leaders  who  have  no  thought  but  to  keep 
what  they  have  got.  The  negotiations  have  been  broken  off. 
The  Russian  representatives  were  sincere  and  in  earnest. 
They  cannot  entertain  such  proposals  of  conquest  and  domi- 
nation. 

The  whole  incident  is  full  of  significance.  It  is  also  full 
of  perplexity.  With  whom  are  the  Russian  representatives 
dealing^?  For  whom  are  the  representatives  of  the  Central 
Empires  speaking?  Are  they  speaking  for  the  majorities  of 
their  respective  parliaments  or  for  the  minority  parties,  that 
military  and  imperialistic  minority  which  has  so  far  domi- 
nated their  whole  policy  and  controlled  the  affairs  of  Turkey 
and  of  the  Balkan  states  which  have  felt  obliged  to  become 
their  associates  in  this  war?  The  Russian  representatives 
have  insisted,  very  justly,  very  wisely,  and  in  the  true  spirit 
of  modern  democracy,  that  the  conferences  they  have  been 
holding  with  the  Teutonic  and  Turkish  statesmen  should  be 
held  within  open,  not  closed,  doors,  and  all  the  world  has 
been  audience,  as  was  desired.  To  whom  have  we  been 
listening,  then?  To  those  who  speak  the  spirit  and  intention 
of  the  Resolutions  of  the  German  Reichstag  of  the  ninth  of 
July  last,  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  liberal  leaders  and 
parties  of  Germany,  or  to  those  who  resist  and  defy  that 
spirit  and  intention  and  insist  upon  conquest  and  subjuga- 
tion? Or  are  we  listening,  in  fact,  to  both,  unreconciled  and 
in  open  and  hopeless  contradiction?  These  are  very  serious 
and  pregnant  questions.  Upon  the  answer  to  them  depends 
the  peace  of  the  world. 

But,  whatever  the  results  of  the  parleys  at  Brest-Litovsk, 
whatever  the  confusions  of  counsel  and  of  purpose  in  the  ut- 


246    ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

terances  of  the  spokesmen  of  the  Central  Empires,  they  have 
again  attempted  to  acquaint  the  world  with  their  objects  in 
the  war  and  have  again  challenged  their  adversaries  to  say 
what  their  objects  are  and  what  sort  of  settlement  they 
would  deem  just  and  satisfactory.  There  is  no  good  reason 
why  that  challenge  should  not  be  responded  to,  and  responded 
to  with  the  utmost  candor.  We  did  not  wait  for  it.  Not 
once,  but  again  and  again,  we  have  laid  our  whole  thought 
and  purpose  before  the  world,  not  in  general  terms  only,  but 
each  time  with  sufficient  definition  to  make  it  clear  what  sort 
of  definitive  terms  of  settlement  must  necessarily  spring  out 
of  them.  Within  the  last  week  Mr.  Lloyd  George  has  spoken 
with  admirable  candor  and  in  admirable  spirit  for  the  people 
and  Government  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no  confusion  of 
counsel  among  the  adversaries  of  the  Central  Powers,  no  un- 
certainty of  principle,  no  vagueness  of  detail.  The  only 
secrecy  of  counsel,  the  only  lack  of  fearless  frankness,  the 
only  failure  to  make  definite  statement  of  the  objects  of  the 
war,  lies  with  Germany  and  her  Allies.  The  issues  of  life 
and  death  hang  upon  these  definitions.  No  statesman  who 
has  the  least  conception  of  his  responsibility  ought  for  a  mo- 
ment to  permit  himself  to  continue  this  tragical  and  appall- 
ing outpouring  of  blood  and  treasure  unless  he  is  sure  beyond 
a  peradventure  that  the  objects  of  the  vital  sacrifice  are  part 
and  parcel  of  the  very  life  of  Society  and  that  the  people 
for  whom  he  speaks  think  them  right  and  imperative  as  he 
does. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  voice  calling  for  these  definitions  of 
principle  and  of  purpose  which  is,  it  seems  to  me,  more 
thrilling  and  more  compelling  than  any  of  the  many  moving 
voices  with  which  the  troubled  air  of  the  world  is  filled.  It 
is  the  voice  of  the  Russian  people.  They  are  prostrate  and 
all  but  helpless,  it  would  seem,  before  the  grim  power  of 
Germany,  which  has  hitherto  known  no  relenting  and  no 
pity.  Their  power,  apparently,  is  shattered.  And  yet  their 
soul  is  not  subservient.  They  will  not  yield  either  in  principle 
or  in  action.  Their  conception  of  what  is  right,  of  what  it  is 
humane  and  honorable  for  them  to  accept,  has  been  stated 
with  a  frankness,  a  largeness  of  view,  a  generosity  of  spirit, 
and  a  universal  human  sympathy  which  must  challenge  the 


Jan.  8]       FOURTEEN  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE      247 

admiration  of  every  friend  of  mankind;  and  they  have  re- 
fused to  compound  their  ideals  or  desert  others  that  they 
themselves  may  be  safe.  They  call  to  us  to  say  what  it  is 
that  we  desire,  in  what,  if  in  anything,  our  purpose  and  our 
spirit  differ  from  theirs;  and  I  believe  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  would  wish  me  to  respond,  with  utter  simplicity 
and  frankness.  Whether  their  present  leaders  believe  it  or 
not,  it  is  our  heartfelt  desire  and  hope  that  some  way  may  be 
opened  whereby  we  may  be  privileged  to  assist  the  people  of 
Russia  to  attain  their  utmost  hope  of  liberty  and  ordered 
peace. 

It  will  be  our  wish  and  purpose  that  the  processes  of  peace, 
when  they  are  begun,  shall  be  absolutely  open  and  that  they 
shall  involve  and  permit  henceforth  no  secret  understandings 
of  any  kind.  The  day  of  conquest  and  aggrandizement  is 
gone  by;  so  is  also  the  day  of  secret  covenants  entered  into 
in  the  interest  of  particular  governments  and  likely  at  some 
unlooked-for  moment  to  upset  the  peace  of  the  world.  It  is 
this  happy  fact,  now  clear  to  the  view  of  every  public  man 
whose  thoughts  do  not  still  linger  in  an  age  that  is  dead  and 
gone,  which  makes  it  possible  for  every  nation  whose  pur- 
poses are  consistent  with  justice  and  the  peace  of  the  world 
to  avow  now  or  at  any  time  the  objects  it  has  in  view. 

We  entered  this  war  because  violations  of  right  had  oc- 
curred which  touched  us  to  the  quick  and  made  the  life  of  our 
own  people  impossible  unless  they  were  corrected  and  the 
world  secured  once  for  all  against  their  recurrence.  W^at 
we  demand  in  this  war,  therefore,  is  nothing  peculiar  to  our- 
selves. It  is  that  the  world  be  made  fit  and  safe  to  live  in; 
and  particularly  that  it  be  made  safe  for  every  peace-loving 
nation  which,  like  our  own,  wishes  to  live  its  own.  life,  deter- 
mine its  own  institutions,  be  assured  of  justice  and  fair 
dealing  by  the  other  peoples  of  the  world  as  against  force  and 
selfish  aggression.  All  the  peoples  of  the  world  are  in  effect 
partners  in  this  interest,  and  for  our  oami  part  we  see  very 
clearly  that  unless  justice  be  done  to  others  it  will  not  be  done 
to  us.  The  programme  of  the  world's  peace,  therefore,  is 
our  programme;  and  that  programme,  the  only  possible  pro- 
gramme, as  we  see  it,  is  this: 

I.    Open  covenants  of  peace,  openly  arrived  at,  after  which 


248       ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON 

there  shall  be  no  private  international  understandings  of  any 
kind  but  diplomacy  shall  proceed  always  frankly  and  in  the 
public  view. 

II.  Absolute  freedom  of  navigation  upon  the  seas,  outside 
territorial  waters,  alike  in  peace  and  in  war,  except  as  the 
seas  may  be  closed  in  whole  or  in  part  by  international  action 
for  the  enforcement  of  international  covenants. 

III.  The  removal,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all  economic  bar- 
riers and  the  establishment  of  an  equality  of  trade  conditions 
among  all  the  nations  consenting  to  the  peace  and  associating 
themselves  for  its  maintenance. 

IV.  Adequate  guarantees  given  and  taken  that  national 
armaments  will  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point  consistent  with 
domestic  safety. 

V.  A  free,  open-minded,  and  absolutely  impartial  adjust- 
ment of  all  colonial  claims,  based  upon  a  strict  observance 
of  the  principle  that  in  determining  all  such  questions  of 
sovereignty  the  interests  of  the  populations  concerned  must 
have  equal  weight  with  the  equitable  claims  of  the  govern- 
ment whose  title  is  to  be  determined. 

VI.  The  evacuation  of  all  Russian  territory  and  such  a 
settlement  of  all  questions  affecting  Russia  as  will  secure  the 
best  and  freest  cooperation  of  the  other  nations  of  the  world 
in  obtaining  for  her  an  unhampered  and  unembarrassed  op- 
portunity for  the  independent  determination  of  her  own 
political  development  and  national  policy  and  assure  her  of  a 
sincere  welcome  into  the  society  of  free  nations  under  insti- 
tutions of  her  own  choosing;  and,  more  than  a  welcome, 
assistance  also  of  every  kind  that  she  may  need  and  may 
herself  desire.  The  treatment  accorded  Russia  by  her  sister 
nations  in  the  months  to  come  will  be  the  acid  test  of  their 
good  will,  of  their  comprehension  of  her  needs  as  distinguished 
from  their  own  interests,  and  of  their  intelligent  and  unselfish 
sympathy. 

VII.  Belgium,  the  whole  world  will  agree,  must  be  evac- 
uated and  restored,  without  any  attempt  to  limit  the  sov- 
ereignty which  she  enjoys  in  common  with  all  other  free 
nations.  No  other  single  act  will  serve  as  this  will  serve  to 
restore  confidence  among  the  nations  in  the  laws  which  they 
have  themselves  set  and  determined  for  the  government  of 


Jan.  8]       FOURTEEN  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE      249 

their  relations  with  one  another.  Without  this  healing  act 
the  whole  structure  and  validity  of  international  law  is  for- 
ever impaired. 

VIII.  All  French  territory  should  be  freed  and  the  invaded 
portions  restored,  and  the  wrong  done  to  France  by  Prussia 
in  18  7 1  in  the  matter  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  which  has  unsettled 
the  peace  of  the  world  for  nearly  fifty  years,  should  be 
righted,  in  order  that  peace  may  once  more  be  made  secure 
in  the  interest  of  all. 

IX.  A  readjustment  of  the  frontiers  of  Italy  should  be 
effected  along  clearly  recognizable  lines  of  nationality. 

X.  The  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  whose  place  among 
the  nations  we  wish  to  see  safeguarded  and  assured,  should  be 
accorded  the  freest  opportunity  of  autonomous  development. 

XI.  Rumania,  Serbia,  and  Montenegro  should  be  evac- 
uated; occupied  territories  restored;  Serbia  accorded  free  and 
secure  access  to  the  sea;  and  the  relations  of  the  several 
Balkan  states  to  one  another  determined  by  friendly  counsel 
along  historically  established  lines  of  allegiance  and  nation- 
ality; and  international  guarantees  of  the  political  and  eco- 
nomic independence  and  territorial  integrity  of  the  several 
Balkan  states  should  be  entered  into. 

XII.  The  Turkish  portions  of  the  present  Ottoman  Em- 
pire should  be  assured  a  secure  sovereignty,  but  the  other 
nationalities  which  are  now  under  Turkish  rule  should  be 
assured  an  undoubted  security  of  life  and  an  absolutely  un- 
molested opportunity  of  autonomous  development,  and  the 
Dardanelles  should  be  permanently  opened  as  a  free  passage 
to  the  ships  and  commerce  of  all  nations  under  international 
guarantees. 

XIII.  An  independent  Polish  state  should  be  erected 
which  should  include  the  territories  inhabited  by  indisputably 
Polish  populations,  which  should  be  assured  a  free  and  secure 
access  to  the  sea,  and  whose  political  and  economic  inde- 
pendence and  territorial  integrity  should  be  guaranteed-  by 
international  covenant, 

XIV.  A  general  association  of  nations  must  be  formed 
under  specific  covenants  for  the  purpose  of  affording  mutual 
guarantees  of  political  independence  and  territorial  integrity 
to  great  and  small  states  alike. 


250     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

In  regard  to  these  essential  rectifications  of  wrong  and 
assertions  of  right  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  intimate  partners 
of  all  the  governments  and  peoples  associated  together  against 
the  Imperialists.  We  cannot  be  separated  in  interest  or  di- 
vided in  purpose.    We  stand  together  until  the  end. 

For  such  arrangements  and  covenants  we  are  willing  to 
fight  and  to  continue  to  fight  until  they  are  achieved;  but 
only  because  we  wish  the  right  to  prevail  and  desire  a  just 
and  stable  peace  such  as  can  be  secured  only  by  removing 
the  chief  provocations  to  war,  which  this  programme  does 
remove.  We  have  no  jealousy  of  German  greatness,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  this  programme  that  impairs  it.  We 
grudge  her  no  achievement  or  distinction  of  learning  or  of 
pacific  enterprise  such  as  have  made  her  record  very  bright 
and  very  enviable.  We  do  not  wish  to  injure  her  or  to  block 
in  any  way  her  legitimate  influence  or  power.  We  do  not 
wdsh  to  fight  her  either  with  arms  or  with  hostile  arrangements 
of  trade  if  she  is  willing  to  associate  herself  with  us  and  the 
other  peace-loving  nations  of  the  world  in  covenants  of  jus- 
tice and  law  and  fair  dealing.  We  wish  her  only  to  accept 
a  place  of  equality  among  the  peoples  of  the  world, — the  new 
world  in  which  we  now  live, — instead  of  a  place  of  mastery. 

Neither  do  we  presume  to  suggest  to  her  any  alteration  or 
modification  of  her  institutions.  But  it  is  necessary,  we  must 
frankly  say,  and  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  any  intelli- 
gent dealings  with  her  on  our  part,  that  we  should  know 
whom  her  spokesmen  speak  for  when  they  speak  to  us, 
whether  for  the  Reichstag  majority  or  for  the  military  party 
and  the  men  whose  creed  is  imperial  domination. 

We  have  spoken  now,  surely,  in  terms  too  concrete  to 
admit  of  any  further  doubt  or  question.  An  evident  prin- 
ciple runs  through  the  whole  programme  I  have  outlined.  It 
is  the  principle  of  justice  to  all  peoples  and  nationalities,  and 
their  right  to  live  on  equal  terms  of  liberty  and  safety  with 
one  another,  whether  they  be  strong  or  weak.  Unless  this 
principle  be  made  its  foundation  no  part  of  the  structure  of 
international  justice  can  stand.  The  people  of  the  United 
States  could  act  upon  no  other  principle;  and  to  the  vindi- 
cation of  this  principle  they  are  ready  to  devote  their  lives, 
their  honor,  and  everything  that  they  possess.     The  moral 


fan.  8]       FOURTEEN  CONDITIONS  OF  PEACE      251 

climax  of  this  the  culminating  and  final  war  for  human  liberty 
has  come,  and  they  are  ready  to  put  their  own  strength,  their 
own  highest  purpose,  their  own  integrity  and  devotion  to  the 
test. 

White  House  Pamphlet. 


79.    THE  FARMERS'  PATRIOTISM 

(January  31,  1918) 

Message  to  the  Farmers'  Conference  at  Urbana, 
Illinois 

I  am  very  sorry  indeed  that  I  can  not  be  present  in  person 
at  the  Urbana  conference.  I  should  like  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fit of  the  inspiration  and  exchange  of  counsel  which  I  know 
I  should  obtain,  but  in  the  circumstances  it  has  seemed  im- 
possible for  me  to  be  present,  and  therefore  I  can  only  send 
you  a  very  earnest  message  expressing  my  interest  and  the 
thoughts  which  such  a  conference  must  bring  prominently 
into  every  mind. 

I  need  not  tell  you,  for  I  am  sure  you  realize  as  keenly  as 
I  do,  that  we  are  as  a  Nation  in  the  presence  of  a  great  task 
which  demands  supreme  sacrifice  and  endeavor  of  every  one 
of  us.  We  can  give  everything  that  is  needed  with  the 
greater  willingness,  and  even  satisfaction,  because  the  object 
of  the  war  in  which  we  are  engaged  is  the  greatest  that  free 
men  have  ever  undertaken.  It  is  to  prevent  the  life  of  the 
world  from  being  determined  and  the  fortunes  of  men  every- 
where affected  by  small  groups  of  military  masters,  who  seek 
their  own  interest  and  the  selfish  dominion  throughout  the 
world  of  the  Governments  they  unhappily  for  the  moment 
control.  You  will  not  need  to  be  convinced  that  it  was  neces- 
sary for  us  as  a  free  people  to  take  part  in  this  war.  It  had 
raised  its  evil  hand  against  us.  The  rulers  of  Germany  had 
sought  to  exercise  their  power  in  such  a  way  as  to  shut  off 
our  economic  life  so  far  as  our  intercourse  with  Europe  was 
concerned,  and  to  confine  our  people  \vithin  the  Western 
Hemisphere  while  they  accomplished  purposes  which  would 


252     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

have  permanently  impaired  and  impeded  every  process  of 
our  national  life  and  have  put  the  fortunes  of  America  at 
the  mercy  of  the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany. 

This  was  no  threat.  It  had  become  a  reality.  Their  'hand 
of  violence  had  been  laid  upon  our  own  people  and  our  own 
property  in  flagrant  violation  not  only  of  justice  but  of  the 
well-recognized  and  long-standing  covenants  of  international 
law  and  treaty.  We  are  fighting,  therefore,  as  truly  for  the 
liberty  and  self-government  of  the  United  States  as  if  the 
war  of  our  own  Revolution  had  to  be  fought  over  again; 
and  every  man  in  every  business  in  the  United  States  must 
know  by  this  time  that  his  whole  future  fortune  lies  in  the 
balance.  Our  national  life  and  our  whole  economic  develop- 
ment will  pass  under  the  sinister  influences  of  foreign  control 
if  we  do  not  win.  We  must  win,  therefore,  and  we  shall  win. 
I  need  not  ask  you  to  pledge  your  lives  and  fortunes  with 
those  of  the  rest  of  the  Nation  to  the  accomplishment  of  that 
great  end. 

You  will  realize,  as  I  think  statesmen  on  both  sides  of  the 
water  realize,  that  the  culminating  crisis  of  the  struggle  has 
come  and  that  the  achievements  of  this  year  on  the  one  side 
or  the  other  must  determine  the  issue.  It  has  turned  out 
that  the  forces  that  fight  for  freedom,  the  freedom  of  men 
all  over  the  world  as  well  as  our  own,  depend  upon  us  in  an 
extraordinary  and  unexpected  degree  for  sustenance,  for  the 
supply  of  the  materials  by  which  men  are  to  live  and  to  fight, 
and  it  wifl  be  our  glory  when  the  war  is  over  that  we  have 
supplied  those  materials  and  supplied  them  abundantly,  and 
it  wfll  be  all  the  more  glory  because  in  supplying  them  we 
have  made  our  supreme  effort  and  sacrifice. 

In  the  field  of  agriculture  we  have  agencies  and  instrumen- 
talities, fortunately,  such  as  no  other  government  in  the  world 
can  show.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  is  undoubtedly 
the  greatest  practical  and  scientific  agricultural  organization 
in  the  world.  Its  total  annual  budget  of  $46,000,000  has 
been  increased  during  the  last  four  years  more  than  72  per 
cent.  It  has  a  staff  of  18,000,  including  a  large  number  of 
highly  trained  experts,  and  alongside  of  it  stands  the  unique 
land-grant  colleges,  which  are  without  example  elsewhere, 
and  the  69  State  and  Federal  experiment  stations.     These 


Jan.  31  ]        THE  FARMERS'  PATRIOTISM  253 

colleges  and  experiment  stations  have  a  total  endowment  of 
plant  and  equipment  of  $172,000,000  and  an  income  of  more 
than  $35,000,000,  with  10,271  teachers,  a  resident  student 
body  of  125,000,  and  a  vast  additional  number  receiving 
instruction  at  their  homes.  County  agents,  joint  officers  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  of  the  colleges,  are  every- 
where cooperating  with  the  farmers  and  assisting  them.  The 
number  of  extension  workers  under  the  Smith-Lever  Act  and 
under  the  recent  emergency  legislation  has  grown  to  5,500 
men  and  women  working  regularly  in  the  various  communi- 
ties and  taking  to  the  farmer  the  latest  scientific  and  practi- 
cal informiation. 

Alongside  these  great  public  agencies  stand  the  very  effec- 
tive voluntary  organizations  among  the  farmers  themselves 
which  are  more  and  more  learning  the  best  methods  of  co- 
operation and  the  best  methods  of  putting  to  practical  use  the 
assistance  derived  from  governmental  sources.  The  banking 
legislation  of  the  last  two  or  three  years  has  given  the  farmers 
access  to  the  great  lendable  capital  of  the  country,  and  it 
has  become  the  duty  both  of  the  men  in  charge  of  the  Fed- 
eral Reserve  Banking  System  and  of  the  Farm  Loan  Banking 
System  to  see  to  it  that  the  farmers  obtain  the  credit,  both 
short  term  and  long  term,  to  which  they  are  not  only  entitled 
but  which  it  is  imperatively  necessary  should  be  extended  to 
them  if  the  present  tasks  of  the  country  are  to  be  adequately 
performed.  Both  by  direct  purchase  of  nitrates  and  by  the 
establishment  of  plants  to  produce  nitrates  the  Government 
is  doing  its  utmost  to  assist  in  the  problem  of  fertilization. 
The  Department  of  Agriculture  and  other  agencies  are  ac- 
tively assisting  the  farmers  to  locate,  safeguard,  and  secure 
at  cost  an  adequate  supply  of  sound  seed.  The  department 
has  $2,500,000  available  for  this  purpose  now  and  has  asked 
the  Congress  for  $6,000,000  more. 

The  labor  problem  is  one  of  great  difficulty,  and  some  of 
the  best  agencies  of  the  Nation  are  addressing  themselves  to 
the  task  of  solving  it,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  solve  it. 
Farmers  have  not  been  exempted  from  the  draft.  I  know 
that  they  would  not  wish  to  be.  I  take  it  for  granted  they 
would  not  wish  to  be  put  in  a  class  by  themselves  in  this 
respect.    But  the  attention  of  the  War  Department  has  been 


2  54     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191S 

very  seriously  centered  upon  the  task  of  interfering  with  the 
labor  of  the  farms  as  little  as  possible,  and  under  the  new 
draft  regulations  I  believe  that  the  farmers  of  the  country 
will  find  that  their  supply  of  labor  is  very  much  less  seriously 
drawn  upon  than  it  was  under  the  first  and  initial  draft, 
made  before  we  had  our  present  full  experience  in  these  per- 
plexing matters.  The  supply  of  labor  in  all  industries  is  a 
matter  we  must  look  to  and  are  looking  to  with  diligent  care. 

And  let  me  say  that  the  situation  of  the  agencies  I  have 
enumerated  has  been  responded  to  by  the  farmers  in  splendid 
fashion.  I  dare  say  that  you  are  aware  that  the  farmers  of 
this  country  are  as  efficient  as  any  other  farmers  in  the  world. 
They  do  not  produce  more  per  acre  than  the  farmers  in 
Europe.  It  is  not  necessary  that  they  should  do  so.  It 
would  perhaps  be  bad  economy  for  them  to  attempt  it.  But 
they  do  produce  by  two  to  three  or  four  times  more  per  man, 
per  unit  of  labor  and  capital,  than  the  farmers  of  any  Euro- 
pean country.  They  are  more  alert  and  use  more  labor- 
saving  devices  than  any  other  farmers  in  the  world.  And 
their  response  to  the  demands  of  the  present  emergency  has 
been  in  every  way  remarkable.  Last  spring  their  planting 
exceeded  by  12,000,000  acres  the  largest  planting  of  any 
previous  year,  and  the  yields  from  the  crops  were  record- 
breaking  yields.  In  the  fall  of  19 17  a  wheat  acreage  of 
42,170,000  was  planted,  which  was  1,000,000  larger  than  for 
any  preceding  year,  3,000,000  greater  than  the  next  largest, 
and  7,000,000  greater  than  the  preceding  five-year  average. 

But  I  ought  to  say  to  you  that  it  is  not  only  necessary 
that  these  achievements  should  be  repeated,  but  that  they 
should  be  exceeded.  I  know  what  this  advice  involves.  It 
involves  not  only  labor  but  sacrifice,  the  painstaking  applica- 
tion of  every  bit  of  scientific  knowledge  and  every  tested 
practice  that  is  available.  It  means  the  utmost  economy, 
even  to  the  point  where  the  pinch  comes.  It  means  the  kind 
of  concentration  and  self-sacrifice  which  is  involved  in  the 
field  of  battle  itself,  where  the  object  always  looms  greater 
than  the  individual.  And  yet  the  Government  will  help  and 
help  in  every  way  that  is  possible.  The  impression  which 
prevails  in  some  quarters  that  while  the  Government  has 
sought  to  fix  the  prices  of  foodstuffs  it  has  not  sought  to  fix 


Jan.3i]        THE  FARMERS'  PATRIOTISM  255 

other  prices  which  determine  the  expenses  of  the  farmer  is  a 
mistaken  one.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Government  has  ac- 
tively and  successfully  regulated  the  prices  of  many  funda- 
mental materials  underlying  all  the  industries  of  the  country, 
and  has  regulated  them,  not  only  for  the  purchases  of  the 
Government,  but  also  for  the  purchases  of  the  general  public, 
and  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Congress  will 
extend  the  powers  of  the  Government  in  this  important  and 
even  essential  matter,  so  that  the  tendency  to  profiteering, 
which  is  showing  itself  in  too  many  quarters,  may  be  effec- 
tively checked.  In  fixing  the  prices  of  foodstuffs  the 
Government  has  sincerely  tried  to  keep  the  interests  of  the 
farmer  as  much  in  mind  as  the  interests  of  the  communities 
which  are  to  be  served,  but  it  is  serving  mankind  as  well  as 
the  farmer,  and  everything  in  these  times  of  war  takes  on  the 
rigid  aspect  of  duty. 

I  will  not  appeal  to  you  to  continue  and  renew  and  increase 
your  efforts.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  necessary  to  do  so. 
I  believe  that  you  will  do  it  without  any  word  or  appeal  from 
me,  because  you  understand  as  well  as  I  do  the  needs  and 
opportunities  of  this  great  hour  when  the  fortunes  of  mankind 
everywhere  seem  about  to  be  determined  and  when  America 
has  the  greatest  opportunity  she  has  ever  had  to  make  good 
her  own  freedom  and  in  making  it  good  to  lend  a  helping  hand 
to  men  struggling  for  their  freedom  everywhere.  You  remem- 
ber that  it  was  farmers  from  whom  came  the  first  shots  at 
Lexington,  that  set  aflame  the  revolution  that  made  America 
free.  I  hope  and  believe  that  the  farmers  of  America  will 
willingly  and  conspicuously  stand  by  to  win  this  war  also. 

The  toil,  the  intelligence,  the  energy,  the  foresight,  the  self- 
sacrifice,  and  devotion  of  the  farmers  of  America  will,  I 
believe,  bring  to  a  triumphant  conclusion  this  great  last  war 
for  the  emancipation  of  men  from  the  control  of  arbitrary 
government  and  the  selfishness  of  class  legislation  and  control, 
and  then,  when  the  end  has  come,  we  may  look  each  other 
in  the  face  and  be  glad  that  we  are  Americans  and  have  had 
the  privilege  to  play  such  a  part. 

White  House  Pamphlet, 


2  56    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

80.     HONOR  TO  THE  RED  CROSS 

(May  18,  1918) 

Address  to  the  Public  Meeting  in  New  York,  Opening 
A  Campaign  for  the  Second  Red  Cross  Fund 

I  should  be  very  sorry  to  think  that  Mr.  Davison  in  any 
degree  curtailed  his  exceedingly  interesting  speech  for  fear 
that  he  was  postponing  mine,  because  I  am  sure  you  listened 
with  the  same  intent  and  intimate  interest  with  which  I  lis- 
tened to  the  extraordinarily  vivid  account  he  gave  of  the 
things  which  he  had  realized  because  he  had  come  in  contact 
with  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  We  compassed 
them  with  our  imagination.  He  compassed  them  in  his  per- 
sonal experience. 

I  am  not  come  here  to-night  to  review  for  you  the  work  of 
the  Red  Cross.  I  am  not  competent  to  do  so,  because  I  have 
not  had  the  time  or  the  opportunity  to  follow  it  in  detail.  I 
have  come  here  simply  to  say  a  few  words  to  you  as  to  what 
it  all  seems  to  me  to  mean. 

It  means  a  great  deal.  There  are  two  duties  with  which 
we  are  face  to  face.  The  first  duty  is  to  win  the  war.  The 
second  duty,  that  goes  hand  in  hand  with  it,  is  to  win  it 
greatly  and  worthily,  showing  the  real  quality  of  our  power 
not  only,  but  the  real  quality  of  our  purpose  and  of  ourselves. 
Of  course,  the  first  duty,  the  duty  that  we  must  keep  in  the 
foreground  of  our  thought  until  it  is  accomplished,  is  to  win 
the  war.  I  have  heard  gentlemen  recently  say  that  we  must 
get  five  million  men  ready.  Why  limit  it  to  five  million?  I 
have  asked  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  name  no 
limit,  because  the  Congress  intends,  I  am  sure,  as  we  all  in- 
tend, that  every  ship  that  can  carry  men  or  supplies  shall  go 
laden  upon  every  voyage  "vvith  every  man  and  every  supply 
she  can  carry. 

And  we  are  not  to  be  diverted  from  the  grim  purpose  of 
winning  the  war  by  any  insincere  approaches  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  peace.  I  can  say  with  a  clear  conscience  that  I  have 
tested  those  intimations  and  have  found  them  insincere.  I 
now  recognize  them  for  what  they  are,  an  opportunity  to 


May  i8]         HONOR  TO  THE  RED  CROSS  257 

have  a  free  hand,  particularly  in  the  East,  to  carry  out  pur- 
poses of  conquest  and  exploitation.  Every  proposal  with 
regard  to  accommodation  in  the  West  involves  a  reservation 
with  regard  to  the  East.  Now,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I 
intend  to  stand  by  Russia  as  well  as  France.  The  helpless 
and  the  friendless  are  the  very  ones  that  need  friends  and 
succor,  and  if  any  man  in  Germany  thinks  we  are  going  to 
sacrifice  anybody  for  our  own  sake,  I  tell  them  now  they  are 
mistaken.  For  the  glory  of  this  war,  my  fellow  citizens,  so 
far  as  we  are  concerned,  is  that  it  is,  perhaps  for  the  first 
time  in  history,  an  unselfish  war.  I  could  not  be  proud  to 
fight  for  a  selfish  purpose,  but  I  can  be  proud  to  fight  for 
mankind.  If  they  wish  peace,  let  them  come  forward  through 
accredited  representatives  and  lay  their  terms  on  the  table. 
We  have  laid  ours,  and  they  know  what  they  are. 

But  behind  all  this  grim  purpose,  my  friends,  lies  the  op- 
portunity to  demonstrate  not  only  force,  which  will  be  dem- 
onstrated to  the  utmost,  but  the  opportunity  to  demonstrate 
character,  and  it  is  that  opportunity  that  we  have  most  con- 
spicuously in  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross.  Not  that  our  men 
in  arms  do  not  represent  our  character,  for  they  do,  and  it  is 
a  character  which  those  who  see  and  realize  appreciate  and 
admire,  but  their  duty  is  the  duty  of  force.  The  duty  of  the 
Red  Cross  is  the  duty  of  mercy  and  succor  and  friendship. 

Have  you  formed  a  picture  in  your  imagination  of  what 
this  war  is  doing  for  us  and  for  the  world?  In  my  own  mind 
I  am  convinced  that  not  a  hundred  years  of  peace  could  have 
knitted  this  Nation  together  as  this  single  year  of  war  has 
knitted  it  together;  and  better  even  than  that,  if  possible,  it 
is  knitting  the  world  together.  Look  at  the  picture?  In  the 
center  of  the  scene,  four  nations  engaged  against  the  world, 
and  at  every  point  of  vantage,  showing  that  they  are  seeking 
selfish  aggrandizement;  and  against  them,  twenty-three  gov- 
ernments, representing  the  greater  part  of  the  population  of 
the  world,  drawn  together  into  a  new  sense  of  community  of 
interest,  a  new  sense  of  community  of  purpose,  a  new  sense 
of  unity  of  life.  The  Secretary  of  War  told  me  an  interesting 
incident  the  other  day.  He  said  when  he  was  in  Italy  a 
member  of  the  Italian  Government  was  explaining  to  him  the 
many  reasons  why  Italy  felt  near  to  the  tJnited  States. 


2  58     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

He  said,  ^'If  you  want  to  try  an  interesting  experiment,  go 
up  to  any  one  of  these  troop  trains  and  ask  in  English  how 
many  of  them  have  been  in  America,  and  see  what  happens." 
He  tried  the  experiment.  He  went  up  to  a  troop  train  and 
he  asked,  ''How  many  of  you  boys  have  been  in  America?" 
and  he  said  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  half  of  them  sprang  up: 
''Me  from  San  Francisco,"  "Me  from  New  York," — all  over. 
There  was  part  of  the  heart  of  America  in  the  Italian  Army, 
— people  that  had  been  knitted  to  us  by  association,  who 
knew  us,  who  had  lived  amongst  us,  who  had  worked  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  us,  and  now.  friends  of  America,  were  fight- 
ing for  their  native  Italy. 

Friendship  is  the  only  cement  that  will  ever  hold  the  world 
together.  And  this  intimate  contact  of  the  great  Red  Cross 
vdth  the  peoples  who  are  suffering  the  terrors  and  depriva- 
tions of  this  war  is  going  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  instrumen- 
talities of  friendship  that  the  world  ever  knew;  and  the  cen- 
ter of  the  heart  of  it  all,  if  we  sustain  it  properly,  will  be 
this  land  that  we  so  dearly  love. 

My  friends,  a  great  day  of  duty  has  come,  and  duty  finds 
a  man's  soul  as  no  kind  of  work  can  ever  find  it.  May  I  say 
this:  The  duty  that  faces  us  all  now  is  to  serve  one  another. 
No  man  can  afford  to  make  a  fortune  out  of  this  war.  There 
are  men  amongst  us  who  have  forgotten  that,  if  they  ever  saw 
it.  Some  of  you  are  old  enough — I  am  old  enough — to  re- 
member men  who  made  fortunes  out  of  the  Civil  War,  and 
you  know  how  they  were  regarded  by  their  fellow  citizens. 
That  was  a  war  to  save  one  country.  This  is  a  war  to  save 
the  world.  And  your  relation  to  the  Red  Cross  is  one  of  the 
relations  which  will  relieve  you  of  the  stigma.  You  cannot 
give  anything  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  It 
will  not  accept  it.  There  is  a  law  of  Congress  against  ac- 
cepting even  services  without  pay.  The  only  thing  that  the 
Government  will  accept  is  a  loan  and  duties  performed,  but 
it  is  a  great  deal  better  to  give  than  to  lend  or  to  pay,  and 
your  great  channel  for  giving  is  the  American  Red  Cross. 
Down  in  your  hearts  you  can  not  take  very  much  satisfaction 
in  the  last  analysis  in  lending  money  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  because  the  interest  which  you  draw  will 
bum  your  pockets.    It  is  a  commercial  transaction :  and  some 


May  i8]         HONOR  TO  THE  RED  CROSS  259 

men  have  even  dared  to  cavil  at  the  rate  of  interest,  not 
knowing  the  incidental  commentary  that  that  constitutes  upon 
their  attitude. 

But  when  you  give,  something  of  your  heart,  something  of 
your  soul,  something  of  yourself  goes  with  the  gift,  particu- 
larly when  it  is  given  in  such  form  that  it  never  can  come 
back  by  way  of  direct  benefit  to  yourself.  You  know  there 
is  the  old  C3aiical  definition  of  gratitude,  as  ''the  lively  ex- 
pectation of  favors  to  come."  Well,  there  is  no  expectation 
of  favors  to  come  in  this  kind  of  giving.  These  things  are 
bestowed  in  order  that  the  world  may  be  a  fitter  place  to  live 
in,  that  men  may  be  succored,  that  homes  may  be  restored, 
that  suffering  may  be  relieved,  that  the  face  of  the  earth  may 
have  the  blight  of  destruction  removed  from  it,  and  that 
wherever  force  goes,  there  shall  go  mercy  and  helpfulness. 

And  when  you  give,  give  absolutely  all  that  you  can  spare, 
and  do  not  consider  yourself  liberal  in  the  giving.  If  you 
give  with  self-adulation,  you  are  not  giving  at  all,  you  are 
giving  to  your  own  vanity,  but  if  you  give  until  it  hurts,  then 
your  heart-blood  goes  into  it. 

Think  what  we  have  here!  We  call  it  the  American  Red 
Cross,  but  it  is  merely  a  branch  of  a  great  international  or- 
ganization which  is  not  only  recognized  b}^  the  statutes  of 
each  of  the  civiHzed  governments  of  the  world,  but  is  recog- 
nized by  international  agreement  and  treaty,  as  the  recognized 
and  accepted  instrumentality  of  mercy  and  succor.  And  one 
of  the  deepest  stains  that  rest  upon  the  reputation  of  the 
German  Army  is  that  they  have  not  respected  the  Red  Cross. 
That  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  They  have  not  re- 
spected the  instrumentality  they  themselves  participated  in 
setting  up  as  the  thing  which  no  man  was  to  touch  because 
it  was  the  expression  of  common  humanity.  By  being  mem- 
bers of  the  American  Red  Cross,  we  are  members  of  a  great 
fraternity  and  comradeship  which  extends  all  over  the  world. 
This  cross  which  these  ladies  bore  to-day  is  an  emblem  of 
Christianity  itself. 

It  fills  my  imagination,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  think  of 
the  women  all  over  this  country  who  are  busy  to-night,  and 
are  busy  every  night  and  every  day,  doing  the  work  of  the 
Red  Cross,  busy  with  a  great  eagerness  to  find  out  the  most 


26o    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

serviceable  thing  to  do,  busy  with  a  forgetfulness  of  all  the 
old  frivolities  of  their  social  relationships,  ready  to  curtail 
the  duties  of  the  household  in  order  that  they  may  contribute 
to  this  common  work  that  all  their  hearts  are  engaged  in  and 
doing  which  their  hearts  become  acquainted  with  each  other. 
When  you  think  of  this,  you  realize  how  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  being  drawn  together  into  a  great  intimate 
family  whose  heart  is  being  used  for  the  service  of  the  soldiers 
not  only,  but  for  the  service  of  civilians  where  they  suffer  and 
are  lost  in  a  maze  of  distresses  and  distractions. 

You  have,  then,  this  noble  picture  of  justice  and  mercy  as 
the  two  servants  of  liberty.  For  only  where  men  are  free  do 
they  think  the  thoughts  of  comradeship,  only  where  they 
are  free  do  they  think  the  thoughts  of  sympathy,  only  where 
they  are  free  are  they  mutually  helpful,  only  where  they  are 
free  do  they  realize  their  dependence  upon  one  another  and 
their  comradeship  in  a  common  interest  and  common  neces- 
sity. If  you  ladies  and  gentlemen  could  read  some  of  the 
touching  despatches  which  come  through  official  channels, 
for  even  through  those  channels  there  come  voices  of  human- 
ity that  are  infinitely  pathetic;  if  you  could  catch  some  of 
those  voices  that  speak  the  utter  longing  of  oppressed  and 
helpless  peoples  all  over  the  world  to  hear  something  like  the 
Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  to  hear  the  feet  of  the  great 
hosts  of  Liberty  coming  to  set  them  free,  to  set  their  minds 
free,  set  their  lives  free,  set  their  children  free;  you  would 
know  what  comes  into  the  heart  of  those  who  are  trying  to 
contribute  all  the  brains  and  power  they  have  to  this  great 
enterprise  of  Liberty.  I  summon  you  to  the  comradeship. 
I  summon  you  in  this  next  week  to  say  how  much  and  how 
sincerely  and  how  unanimously  you  sustain  the  heart  of  the 
World.  White  House  Pamphlet, 

81.    WAR-TIME  PROHIBITION 

(May  28,  1918) 

Letter  to  Senator  Sheppard 

V  Thank  you  very  much  for  your  letter  of  the  2  6th.  Frankly, 
I  was  very  much  distressed  by  the  action  of  the  House.    I  do 


May  28]  WAR-TIME  PROHIBITION  261 

not  think  that  it  is  wise  or  fair  to  attempt  to  put  such  com- 
pulsion on  the  Executive  in  a  matter  in  which  he  has  already 
acted  almost  to  the  limit  of  his  authority.  What  is  almost 
entirely  overlooked  is  that  there  are,  as  I  am  informed,  very 
large  stocks  of  whisky  in  this  country,  and  it  seems  to  me 
quite  certain  that  if  tie  brewing  of  beer  were  prevented  en- 
tirely, along  with  all  the  other  drinks,  many  of  them  harm- 
less, which  are  derived  from  food  or  food  stuffs,  the  con- 
sumption of  whisky  would  be  stimulated  and  increased  to 
a  very  considerable  extent. 

My  own  judgment  is  that  it  is  wise  and  statesmanlike  to 
let  the  situation  stand  as  it  is  for  the  present,  until  at  any 
rate  I  shall  be  apprised  by  the  Food  Administration  that  it 
is  necessary  in  the  way  suggested  still  further  to  conserve 
the  supply  of  food  and  feed  stuffs.  The  Food  Administration 
has  not  thought  it  necessary  to  go  any  further  than  we  have 
in  that  matter  already  gone. 

I  thank  you  most  cordially,  Senator,  for  your  kindness  in 
consulting  me  in  this  matter,  which  is  of  very  considerable 
importance,  and  has  a  very  direct  bearing  upon  many  col- 
lateral questions. 

Congressional  Record,  LXI,  8033. 


82.    DISINTERESTED  SERVICE  TO  LATIN  AMERICA 

(June  7,  1918) 

Address  to  Mexican  Editors  at  the  White  House 

I  have  never  received  a  group  of  men  who  were  more  wel- 
come than  you  are,  because  it  has  been  one  of  my  distresses 
during  the  period  of  my  Presidency  that  the  Mexican  people 
did  not  more  thoroughly  understand  the  attitude  of  the 
United  States  toward  Mexico.  I  think  I  can  assure  you,  and 
I  hope  you  have  had  every  evidence  of  the  truth  of  my 
assurance,  that  that  attitude  is  one  of  sincere  friendship. 
And  not  merely  the  sort  of  friendship  which  prompts  one  not 
to  do  his  neighbor  any  harm,  but  the  sort  of  friendship  which 
earnestly  desires  to  do  his  neighbor  service. 


262     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

My  own  policy,  the  policy  of  my  own  administration,  to- 
ward Mexico  was  at  every  point  based  upon  this  principle, 
that  the  internal  settlement  of  the  affairs  of  Mexico  was  none 
of  our  business;  that  we  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  or  to 
dictate  to  Mexico  in  any  particular  with  regard  to  her  own 
affairs.  Take  one  aspect  of  our  relations  which  at  one  time 
may  have  been  difficult  for  you  to  understand:  When  we 
sent  troops  into  Mexico,  our  sincere  desire  was  nothing  else 
than  to  assist  you  to  get  rid  of  a  man  who  was  making  the 
settlement  of  your  affairs  for  the  time  being  impossible.  We 
had  no  desire  to  use  our  troops  for  any  other  purpose,  and 
I  was  in  hopes  that  by  assisting  in  that  way  and  then  im- 
mediately withdrawing,  I  might  give  substantial  proof  of 
the  truth  of  the  assurances  that  I  had  given  your  Government 
through  President  Carranza. 

And  at  the  present  time  it  distresses  me  to  learn  that  cer- 
tain influences,  which  I  assume  to  be  German  in  their  origin, 
are  trying  to  make  a  wrong  impression  throughout  Mexico 
as  to  the  purposes  of  the  United  States,  and  not  only  a 
wrong  impression,  but  to  give  an  absolutely  untrue  accoimt 
of  things  that  happen.  You  know  the  distressing  things  that 
have  been  happening  just  off  our  coasts.  You  know  of  the 
vessels  that  have  been  sunk.  I  yesterday  received  a  quota- 
tion from  a  paper  in  Guadalajara  which  stated  that  thirteen 
of  our  battleships  had  been  sunk  off  the  Capes  of  the  Chesa- 
peake. You  see  how  dreadful  it  is  to  have  people  so  radically 
misinformed.  It  was  added  that  our  Navy  Department  was 
withholding  the  truth  with  regard  to  these  sinkings.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  publisher  of  the  paper  published  that  in 
perfect  innocence  without  intending  to  convey  wrong  im- 
pressions, but  it  is  evident  that  allegations  of  that  sort  pro- 
ceed from  those  who  wish  to  make  trouble  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States. 

Now,  gentlemen,  for  the  time  being  at  any  rate,  and  I 
hope  it  will  not  be  a  short  time,  the  influence  of  the  United 
States  is  somewhat  pervasive  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  and 
I  believe  that  it  is  pervasive  because  the  nations  of  the  world 
which  are  less  powerful  than  some  of  the  greatest  nations 
are  coming  to  believe  that  our  sincere  desire  is  to  do  disinter- 
ested service.    We  are  the  champions  of  those  nations  which 


June  7]  SERVICE  TO  LATIN  AMERICA  265 

have  not  had  a  military  standing  which  would  enable  them 
to  compete  with  the  strongest  nations  in  the  world,  and  I 
look  forward  with  pride  to  the  time,  which  I  hope  will  soon 
come,  when  we  can  give  substantial  evidence,  not  only  that 
we  do  not  want  anything  out  of  this  war,  but  that  we  would 
not  accept  anything  out  of  it,  that  it  is  absolutely  a  case  of 
disinterested  action.  And  if  you  will  watch  the  attitude  of 
our  people,  you  will  see  that  nothing  stirs  them  so  deeply  as 
assurances  that  this  war,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  is  for 
idealistic  objects.  One  of  the  difficulties  that  I  experienced 
during  the  first  three  years  of  the  war,  the  years  when  the 
United  States  was  not  in  the  war,  was  in  getting  the  foreign 
offices  of  European  nations  to  believe  that  the  United  States 
was  seeking  nothing  for  herself,  that  her  neutrality  was  not 
selfish,  and  that  if  she  came  in,  she  would  not  come  in  to  get 
anything  substantial  out  of  the  war,  any  material  object,  any 
territory  or  trade  or  anything  else  of  that  sort.  In  some  of 
the  foreign  offices  there  were  men  who  personally  knew  me 
and  they  believed,  I  hope,  that  I  was  sincere  in  assuring  them 
that  our  purposes  were  disinterested,  but  they  thought  that 
these  assurances  came  from  an  academic  gentleman  removed 
from  the  ordinary  sources  of  information  and  speaking  the 
idealistic  purposes  of  the  cloister.  They  did  not  believe  that 
I  was  speaking  the  real  heart  of  the  American  people,  and  I 
knew  all  along  that  I  was.  Now  I  believe  that  everybody 
who  comes  into  contact  with  the  American  people  knows  that 
I  am  speaking  their  purposes. 

The  other  night  in  New  York,  at  the  opening  of  the  cam- 
paign for  funds  for  our  Red  Cross,  I  made  an  address.  > 
had  not  intended  to  refer  to  Russia,  but  I  was  speaking  with- 
out notes  and  in  the  course  of  what  I  said  my  thought  was 
led  to  Russia,  and  I  said  that  we  meant  to  stand  by  Russia 
just  as  firmly  as  we  would  stand  by  France  or  England  or 
any  other  of  the  Allies.  The  audience  to  which  I  was  speak- 
ing was  not  an  audience  from  which  I  would  have  expected 
an  enthusiastic  response  to  that.  It  was  rather  too  well 
dressed.  It  was  not  an  audience,  in  other  words,  made  of 
the  class  of  people  whom  you  would  suppose  to  have  the  most 
intimate  feeling  for  the  sufferings  of  the  ordinary  man  in 
Russia;  but  that  audience  jumped  into  the  aisles,  the  whole 


264    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

audience  rose  to  its  feet,  and  nothing  that  I  had  said  on  that 
occasion  aroused  anything  like  the  enthusiasm  that  that  sin- 
gle sentence  roused.  Now,  there  is  a  sample,  gentlemen. 
We  cannot  make  anything  out  of  Russia.  We  cannot  make 
anything  out  of  standing  by  Russia  at  this  time, — the  most 
remote  of  the  European  nations,  so  far  as  we  are  gDncemed, 
the  one  with  which  we  have  had  the  least  connections  in  trade 
and  advantage, — and  yet  the  people  of  the  United  States 
rose  to  that  suggestion  as  to  no  other  that  I  made  in  that 
address.  That  is  the  heart  of  America,  and  we  are  ready 
to  show  you  by  any  act  of  friendship  that  you  may  propose 
our  real  feelings  toward  Mexico. 

Some  of  us,  if  I  may  say  so  privately,  look  back  with  re- 
gret upon  some  of  the  more  ancient  relations  that  we  have 
had  with  Mexico  long  before  our  generation;  and  America,  if 
I  may  so  express  it,  would  now  feel  ashamed  to  take  advan- 
tage of  a  neighbor.  So,  I  hope  that  you  can  carry  back  to 
your  homes  something  JDetter  than  the  assurances  of  words. 
You  have  had  contact  with  our  people.  You  know  your 
own  personal  reception.  You  know  how  gladly  we  have 
opened  to  you  the  doors  of  every  establishment  that  you 
wanted  to  see  and  have  shown  you  just  what  we  were  doing, 
and  I  hope  you  have  gained  the  right  impression  as  to  why 
we  were  doing  it.  We  are  doing  it,  gentlemen,  so  that  the 
world  may  never  hereafter  have  to  fear  the  only  thing  that 
any  nation  has  to  dread,  the  unjust  and  selfish  aggression  of 
another  nation.  Some  time  ago,  as  you  probably  all  know, 
I  proposed  a  sort  of  Pan-American  agreement.  I  had  per- 
ceived that  one  of  the  difficulties  of  our  relationship  with 
Latin  America  was  this:  The  famous  Monroe  Doctrine  was 
adopted  without  your  consent,  without  the  consent  of  any 
of  the  Central  or  South  American  States.  If  I  may  express 
it  in  terms  that  we  so  often  use  in  this  country,  we  said,  "We 
are  going  to  be  your  big  brother,  whether  you  want  us  to  be 
or  not."  We  did  not  ask  whether  it  was  agreeable  to  you 
that  we  should  be  your  big  brother.  We  said  we  were  going 
to  be.  Now,  that  was  all  very  well  so  far  as  protecting  you 
from  aggression  from  the  other  side  of  the  water  was  con- 
cerned, but  there  was  nothing  in  it  that  protected  you  from 
aggression  from  us,  and  I  have  repeatedly  seen  the  uneasy 


June  7]  SERVICE  TO  LATIN  AMERICA  265 

feeling  on  the  part  of  representatives  of  the  states  of  Central 
and  South  America  that  our  self-appointed  protection  might 
be  for  our  own  benefit  and  our  own  interests  and  not  for  the 
interest  of  our  neighbors.  So  said  I,  "Very  well,  let  us  make 
an  arrangement  by  which  we  will  give  bond.  Let  us  have  a 
common  guarantee,  that  all  of  us  will  sign,  of  political  inde- 
pendence and  territorial  integrity.  Let  us  agree  that  if  any 
one  of  us,  the  United  States  included,  violates  the  political 
independence  or  the  territorial  integrity  of  any  of  the  others, 
all  the  others  will  jump  on  her.  I  pointed  out  to  some  of 
the  gentlemen  who  were  less  inclined  to  enter  into  this 
arrangement  than  others  that  that  was  in  effect  giving  bonds 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  that  we  would  enter  into 
an  arrangement  by  which  you  would  be  protected  from  us. 

Now,  that  is  the  kind  of  agreement  that  will  have  to  be 
the  foundation  of  the  future  life  of  the  nations  of  the  world, 
gentlemen.  The  whole  family  of  nations  will  have  to  guar- 
antee to  each  nation  that  no  nation  shall  violate  its  political 
independence  or  its  territorial  integrity.  That  is  the  basis, 
the  only  conceivable  basis,  for  the  future  peace  of  the  world, 
and  I  must  admit  that  I  was  ambitious  to  have  the  states 
of  the  two  continents  of  America  show  the  way  to  the  rest 
of  the  world  as  to  how  to  make  a  basis  of  peace.  Peace  can 
come  only  by  trust.  As  long  as  there  is  suspicion,  there  is 
going  to  be  misunderstanding,  and  as  long  as  there  is  mis- 
imderstanding  there  is  going  to  be  trouble.  If  you  can 
once  get  a  situation  of  trust,  then  you  have  got  a  situation 
of  permanent  peace.  Therefore,  everyone  of  us,  it  seems  to 
me,  owes  it  as  a  patriotic  duty  to  his  own  country  to  plant 
the  seeds  of  trust  and  of  confidence  instead  of  the  seeds  of 
suspicion  and  variety  of  interest.  That  is  the  reason  that  I 
began  by  saying  to  you  that  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  a  group  of  men  who  were  more  welcome  than 
you  are,  because  you  are  our  near  neighbors.  Suspicion  on 
your  part  or  misunderstanding  on  your  part  distresses  us 
more  than  we  would  be  distressed  by  similar  feelings  on  the 
part  of  those  less  nearby. 

When  you  reflect  how  wonderful  a  storehouse  of  treasure 
Mexico  is,  you  can  see  how  her  future  must  depend  upon 
peace  and  honor,  so  that  nobody  shall  exploit  her.    It  must 


2  66    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

depend  upon  every  nation  that  has  any  relations  with  her, 
and  the  citizens  of  any  nation  that  has  relations  with  her, 
keeping  within  the  bounds  of  honor  and  fair  dealing  and  jus- 
tice, because  so  soon  as  you  can  admit  your  own  capital 
and  the  capital  of  the  world  to  the  free  use  of  the  resources 
of  Mexico,  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  wonderfully  rich  and 
prosperous  countries  in  the  world.  And  when  you  have  the 
foundations  of  established  order,  and  the  world  has  come 
to  its  senses  again,  we  shall,  I  hope,  have  the  very  best  con- 
nections that  will  assure  us  all  a  permanent  cordiality  and 
friendship. 

The  World  Court,  July,  19 18,  pp.  445-447. 

2>z.    FOUR  FACTORS  OF  WORLD  PEACE 

(July  4,  1918) 

Address  at  Mount  Vernon 

I  am  happy  to  draw  apart  with  you  to  this  quiet  place 
of  old  counsel  in  order  to  speak  a  little  of  the  meaning  of 
this  day  of  our  nation's  independence.  The  place  seems 
very  still  and  remote.  It  is  as  serene  and  untouched  by  the 
hurry  of  the  world  as  it  was  in  those  great  days  long  ago 
when  General  Washington  was  here  and  held  leisurely  con- 
ference with  the  men  who  were  to  be  associated  with  him 
in  the  creation  of  a  nation.  From  these  gentle  slopes  they 
looked  out  upon  the  world  and  saw  it  whole,  saw  it  with  the 
light  of  the  future  upon  it,  saw  it  with  modern  eyes  that 
turned  away  from  a  past  which  men  of  liberated  spirits 
could  no  longer  endure.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  we  cannot 
feel,  even  here,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  this  sacred 
tomb,  that  this  is  a  place  of  death.  It  was  a  place  of  achieve- 
ment. A  great  promise  that  was  meant  for  all  mankind  was 
here  given  plan  and  reality.  The  associations  by  which  we 
are  here  surrounded  are  the  inspMting  associations  of  that 
noble  death  which  is  only  glorious  consummation.  From 
this  green  hillside  we  also  ought  to  be  able  to  see  with 
comprehending  eyes  the  world  that  lies  around  us  and  con- 
ceive anew  the  puroose  that  must  set  men  free. 


July  4]     FOUR  FACTORS  OF  WORLD  PEACE        267 

It  is  significant — significant  of  their  own  character  and 
purpose  and  of  the  influences  they  were  setting  afoot — that 
Washington  and  his  associates,  like  the  Barons  at  Runny- 
mede,  spoke  and  acted,  not  for  a  class,  but  for  a  people. 
It  has  been  left  for  us  to  see  to  it  that  it  shall  be  under- 
stood that  they  spoke  and  acted,  not  for  a  single  people 
only,  but  for  all  mankind.    They  were  thinking  not  of  them- 
selves and  of  the  material  interests  which  centered  in  the 
little  groups  of  landholders  and  merchants  and  men  of  affairs 
with  whom  they  were  accustomed  to  act,  in  Virginia  and 
the  colonies  to  the  north  and  south  of  her,  but  of  a  people 
which  wished  to  be  done  with  classes  and  special  interests 
and  the  authority  of  men  whom  they  had  not  themselves 
chosen  to  rule  over  them.    They  entertained  no  private  pur- 
pose, desired  no  peculiar  privilege.     They  were  consciously 
planning  that  men  of  every  class  should  be  free  and  America 
a  place  to  which  men  out  of  every  nation  might  resort  who 
wished  to  share  with  them  the  rights  and  privileges  of  free 
men.     And  we  take  our  cue  from  them — do  we  not?     We 
intend  what  they  intended.    We  here  in  America  believe  our 
participation  in  this  present  war  to  be  only  the  fruitage  of 
what  they  planted.    Our  case  differs  from  theirs  only  in  this, 
that  it  is  our  inestimable  privilege  to  concert  with  men  out 
of  every  nation  who  shall  make  not  only  the  liberties  of 
America  secure  but  the  liberties  of  every  other  people  as 
well.    We  are  happy  in  the  thought  that  we  are  permitted  to 
do  what  they  would  have  done  had  they  been  in  our  place. 
There  must  now  be  settled,  once  for  all,  what  was  settled 
for  America  in  the  great  age  upon  whose  inspiration  we  draw 
to-day.    This  is  surely  a  fitting  place  from  which  calmly  to 
look  out  upon  our  task,  that  we  may  fortify  our  spirits  for 
its  accomplishment.    And  this  is  the  appropriate  place  from 
which  to  avow,  alike  to  the  friends  who  look  on  and  to  the 
friends  with  whom  we  have  the  happiness  to  be  associated 
in  action,  the  faith  and  purpose  with  which  we  act. 

This,  then,  is  our  conception  of  the  great  struggle  in 
which  we  are  engaged.  The  plot  is  written  plain  upon  every 
scene  and  every  act  of  the  supreme  tragedy.  On  the  one 
hand  stand  the  peoples  of  the  world — not  only  the  peoples 
actually  engaged,  but  many  others,  also,  who  suffer  under 


268     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

mastery  but  cannot  act;  peoples  of  many  races  and  in" every 
part  of  the  world — the  people  of  stricken  Russia  still,  among 
the  rest,  though  they  are  for  the  moment  unorganized  and 
helpless.  Opposed  to  them,  masters  of  many  armies,  stand 
an  isolated,  friendless  group  of  Governments,  who  speak  no 
common  purpose,  but  only  selfish  ambitions  of  their  own, 
by  which  none  can  profit  but  themselves,  and  whose  peoples 
are  fuel  in  their  hands;  Governments  which  fear  their  people, 
and  yet  are  for  the  time  being  sovereign  lords,  making  every 
choice  for  them  and  disposing  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  as 
they  will,  as  well  as  of  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  every  people 
who  fall  under  their  power — Governments  clothed  with  the 
strange  trappings  and  the  primitive  authority  of  an  age  that 
is  altogether  alien  and  hostile  to  our  own.  The  Past  and  the 
Present  are  in  deadly  grapple,  and  the  peoples  of  the  world 
are  being  done  to  death  between  them. 

There  can  be  but  one  issue.  The  settlement  must  be 
final.  There  can  be  no  compromise.  No  halfway  decision 
would  be  tolerable.  No  halfway  decision  is  conceivable. 
These  are  the  ends  for  which  the  associated  peoples  of  the 
world  are  fighting  and  which  must  be  conceded  them  before 
there  can  be  i>eace: 

I. — The  destruction  of  every  arbitrary  power  anywhere  that 
can  separately,  secretly,  and  of  its  single  choice  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  world;  or,  if  it  cannot  be  presently  destroyed,  at 
the  least  its  reduction  to  virtual  impotence. 

II. — The  settlement  of  every  question,  whether  of  terri- 
tory, of  sovereignty,  of  economic  arrangement,  or  of  political 
relationship,  upon  the  basis  of  the  free  acceptance  of  that 
settlement  by  the  people  immediately  concerned,  and  not 
upon  the  basis  of  the  material  interest  or  advantage  of  any 
other  nation  or  people  which  may  desire  a  different  settle- 
ment for  the  sake  of  its  own  exterior  influence  or  mastery. 

III. — The  consent  of  all  nations  to  be  governed  in  their 
conduct  toward  each  other  by  the  same  principles  of  honor 
and  of  respect  for  the  common  law  of  civilized  society  that 
govern  the  individual  citizens  of  all  modern  States  in  their 
relations  with  one  another;  to  the  end  that  all  promises  and 
covenants  may  be  sacredly  observed,  no  private  plots  or 
conspiracies  hatched,  no  selfish  injuries  wrought  with  im- 


July  4]     FOUR  FACTORS  OF  WORLD  PEACE        26^ 

punity,  and  a  mutual  trust  established  upon  the  handsome 
foundation  of  a  mutual  respect  for  right. 

IV — The  establishment  of  an  organization  of  peace  which 
shall  make  it  certain  that  the  combined  power  of  free  nations 
will  check  every  invasion  of  right  and  serve  to  make  peace 
and  justice  the  more  secure  by  affording  a  definite  tribunal 
of  opinion  to  which  all  must  submit  and  by  which  every 
international  readjustment  that  cannot  be  amicably  agreed 
upon  by  the  peoples  directly  concerned  shall  be  sanctioned. 

These  great  objects  can  be  put  into  a  single  sentence. 
What  we  seek  is  the  reign  of  law,  based  upon  the  consent 
of  the  governed  and  sustained  by  the  organized  opinion  of 
mankind. 

These  great  ends  cannot  be  achieved  by  debating  and 
seeking  to  reconcile  and  accommodate  what  statesmen  may 
wish  with  their  projects  for  balances  of  power  and  of  national 
opportunity.  They  can  be  realized  only  by  the  determina- 
tion of  what  the  tiinking  peoples  of  the  world  desire,  with 
their  longing  hope  for  justice  and  for  social  freedom  and 
opportunity. 

I  can  fancy  that  the  air  of  this  place  carries  the  accents 
of  such  principles  with  a  peculiar  kindness.  Here  were 
started  forces  which  the  great  nation  against  which  they 
were  primarily  directed  at  first  regarded  as  a  revolt  against 
its  rightful  authority,  but  which  it  has  long  since  seen  to  have 
been  a  step  in  the  liberation  of  its  own  people  as  well  as 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States;  and  I  stand  here  now 
to  speak — speak  proudly  and  with  confident  hope — of  the 
spread  of  this  revolt,  this  liberation,  to  the  great  stage  of 
the  world  itself!  The  blinded  rulers  of  Prussia  have  roused 
forces  they  knew  little  of — forces  which,  once  roused,  can 
never  be  crushed  to  earth  again;  for  they  have  at  heart  an 
inspiration  and  a  purpose  which  are  deathless  and  of  the 
very  stuff  of  triumph! 

The  World  Court,  July,  1918. 


270    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191 8 
84.     LYNCHING  IS  UNPATRIOTIC 
(July  26,   1918) 
Public  Address  to  Fellow  Countrymen 

I  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  you  upon  a  subject  which 
so  vitally  affects  the  honor  of  the  nation  and  the  very  char- 
acter and  integrity  of  our  institutions  that  I  trust  you  will 
think  me  justified  in  speaking  very  plainly  about  it. 

I  allude  to  the  mob  spirit  which  has  recently  here  and 
there  very  frequently  shown  its  head  among  us,  not  in  any 
single  region  but  in  many  and  widely  separated  parts  of  the 
country.  There  have  been  many  lynchings,  and  every  one 
of  them  has  been  a  blow  at  the  heart  of  ordered  law  and 
humane  justice. 

No  man  who  loves  America,  no  man  who  really  cares  for 
her  fame  and  honor  and  character,  or  who  is  truly  loyal  to 
her  institutions,  can  justify  mob  action  while  the  courts  of 
justice  are  open  and  the  governments  of  the  states  and  the 
nation  are  ready  and  able  to  do  their  duty. 

We  are  at  this  very  moment  fighting  lawless  passion. 
Germany  has  outlawed  herself  among  the  nations  because 
she  has  disregarded  the  sacred  obligations  of  law  and  has 
made  lynchers  of  her  armies.  Lynchers  emulate  her  dis- 
graceful example.  I,  for  my  part,  am  anxious  to  see  every 
community  in  America  rise  above  that  level,  with  pride 
and  a  fixed  resolution  which  no  man  or  set  of  men  can 
afford  to  despise. 

We  proudly  claim  to  be  the  champions  of  democracy.  If 
we  really  are  in  deed  and  in  truth  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  do 
not  discredit  our  own.  I  say  plainly  that  every  American 
who  takes  part  in  the  action  of  a  mob  or  gives  any  sort  of 
countenance  is  no  true  son  of  this  great  democracy,  but  its 
betrayer,  and  does  more  to  discredit  her  by  that  single  dis- 
loyalty to  her  standards  of  law  and  right  than  the  words 
of  her  statesmen  or  the  sacrifices  of  her  heroic  boys  in  the 
trenches  can  do  to  make  suffering  peoples  believe  her  to  be 
their  savior. 

How  shall  we  commend  democracy  to  the  acceptance  of 


July  26]  LYNCHING  IS  UNPATRIOTIC  271 

other  peoples  if  we  disgrace  our  own  by  proving  diat  it  is, 
after  all,  no  protection  to  the  weak?  Every  mob  contributes 
to  German  lies  about  the  United  States  what  her  most 
gifted  liars  cannot  improve  upon  by  the  way  of  calumny. 
They  can  at  least  say  that  such  things  cannot  happen  in 
Germany  except  in  times  of  revolution,  when  law  is  swept 
away! 

I  therefore  very  earnestly  and  solemnly  beg  that  the 
governors  of  all  the  states,  the  law  officers  of  every  com- 
munity, and,  above  all,  the  men  and  women  of  every  com- 
munity in  the  United  States,  all  who  revere  America  and 
wish  to  keep  her  name  without  stain  or  reproach,  will  co- 
operate— not  passively  merely,  but  actively  and  watchfully 
— to  make  an  end  of  this  disgraceful  evil.  It  cannot  live 
where  the  community  does  not  countenance  it. 

I  have  called  upon  the  nation  to  put  its  great  energy  into 
this  war,  and  it  has  responded — responded  with  a  spirit  and 
a  genius  for  action  that  has  thrilled  the  world.  I  now  call 
upon  it,  upon  its  men  and  women  everywhere,  to  see  to  it 
that  its  laws  are  kept  inviolate,  its  fame  untarnished. 

Let  us  show  our  utter  contempt  for  the  things  that  have 
made  this  war  hideous  among  the  wars  of  history  by  show- 
ing how  those  who  love  liberty  and  right  and  justice  and 
are  willing  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  them  upon  foreign 
fields  stand  ready  also  to  illustrate  to  all  mankind  their 
loyalty  to  all  things  at  home  which  they  wish  to  see  estab- 
lished everywhere  as  a  blessing  and  protection  to  the  peoples 
iwho  have  never  known  the  privilege  of  liberty  and  self- 
igovemment. 

I  can  never  accept  any  man  as  a  champion  of  liberty  either 
for  ourselves  or  for  the  world  who  does  not  reverence  and 
obey  the  laws  of  our  owti  beloved  land,  whose  laws  we  our- 
selves have  made.  He  has  adopted  the  standards  of  the  ene- 
mies of  his  country,  whom  he  affects  to  despise. 

New  York  Times ^  July  27,  19 18. 


272     ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

85.     REBUILDING  OF  PALESTINE 

(August  31,  1918) 

Letter  to  Rabbi  Wise 

I  have  watched  with  deep  and  sincere  interest  the  recon- 
structive work  which  the  Weizmann  Commission  has  done 
in  Palestine  at  the  instance  of  the  British  Government,  and 
I  welcome  an  opportunity  to  express  the  satisfaction  I  have 
felt  in  the  progress  of  the  Zionist  movement  in  the  United 
States  and  in  the  allied  countries  since  the  declaration  by 
Mr.  Balfour  on  behalf  of  the  British  Government  of  Great 
Britain's  approval  of  the  establishment  in  Palestine  of  a 
national  home  for  the  Jewish  people  and  his  promise  that 
the  British  Government  would  use  its  best  endeavors  to 
facilitate  the  achievement  of  that  object,  with  the  under- 
standing that  nothing  would  be  done  to  prejudice  the  civil 
and  religious  rights  of  non- Jewish  people  in  Palestine  or  the 
rights  and  political  status  enjoyed  by  Jews  in  other  countries. 

I  think  that  all  Americans  will  be  deeply  moved  by  the 
report  that  even  in  this  time  of  stress  the  Weizmann  Com- 
mission has  been  able  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  Hebrew 
University  at  Jerusalem  with  the  promise  that  that  bears 
of  spiritual  rebirth. 

New  York  Times,  Sept.  5,  19 18. 

86.     GERMAN  WAR  AGAINST  LABOR 

(September  i,  19 18) 

Public  Message  to  Labor  on  Labor  Day 

Labor  day,  19 18,  is  not  like  any  Labor  day  that  we  have 
known.  Labor  day  was  always  deeply  significant  with  us. 
Now  it  is  supremely  significant.  Keenly  as  we  were  aware 
a  year  ago  of  the  enterprise  of  life  and  death  upon  which 
the  nation  had  embarked,  we  did  not  perceive  its  meaning 
as  clearly  as  we  do  now. 


Sept.  i]       GERMAN  WAR  AGAINST  LABOR  273 

We  knew  that  we  were  all  partners  and  must  stand  and 
strive  together,  but  we  did  not  realize  as  we  do  now  that 
we  are  all  enlisted  men,  members  of  a  single  army  of  many- 
parts  and  many  tasks,  but  commanded  by  a  single  obliga- 
tion, our  faces  set  towards  a  single  object.  We  now  know 
that  every  tool  in  every  essential  industry  is  a  weapon 
and  a  weapon  wielded  for  the  same  purpose  that  an  army 
rifle  is  wielded,  a  weapon  which  if  we  were  to  lay  do^vn,  no 
rifle  would  be  of  any  use. 

And  a  weapon  for  what?  What  is  the  war  for?  Why  are 
we  enlisted?  Why  should  we  be  ashamed  if  we  were  not 
enlisted?  At  first  it  seemed  hardly  more  than  a  war  of 
defense  against  the  military  aggression  of  Germany.  Bel- 
gium had  been  violated,  France  invaded  and  Germany  was 
afield  again,  as  in  1870  and  1866,  to  work  out  her  ambi- 
tions in  Europe  and  it  was  necessary  to  meet  her  force  with 
force.  But  it  is  clear  now  that  it  is  much  more  than  a  war 
to  alter  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe. 

Germany,  it  is  now  plain,  was  striking  at  what  free  men 
everywhere  desired  and  must  have — the  right  to  determine 
their  own  fortunes,  to  insist  upon  justice  and  to  oblige  gov- 
ernments to  act  for  them  and  not  for  the  private  and  selfish 
interest  of  a  governing  class.  It  is  a  war  to  make  the  nations 
and  peoples  of  the  world  secure  against  every  such  power  as 
the  German  autocracy  represents. 

It  is  a  war  of  emancipation.  Not  until  it  is  won  can  men 
anywhere  live  free  from  constant  fear  or  breathe  freely 
while  they  go  about  their  daily  tasks  and  know  that  govern- 
ments are  their  servants,  not  their  masters. 

This  is,  therefore,  the  war  of  all  wars,  which  labor  should 
support  with  all  its  concentrated  power.  The  world  cannot 
be  safe,  the  men's  lives  cannot  be  secure,  no  man's  rights  can 
be  confidently  and  successfully  asserted  against  the  rule  and 
mastery  of  arbitrary  groups  and  special  interests  so  long  as 
governments  like  that  which  after  long  premeditation  drew 
Austria  and  Germany  into  this  war  are  permitted  to  control 
the  destinies  and  the  daily  fortunes  of  men  and  nations, 
plotting  while  honest  men  work,  laying  the  fires  of  which 
innocent  men,  women  and  children  are  to  be  the  fuel. 

You  know  the  nature  of  this  war.     It  is  a  war  which 


274    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

industry  must  sustain.  The  army  of  laborers  at  home  is  as 
important,  as  essential  as  the  army  of  fighting  men  in  the 
far  fields  of  actual  battle.  And  the  laborer  is  not  only  needed 
as  much  as  the  soldier.  It  is  his  war.  The  soldier  is  his 
champion  and  representative.  To  fail  to  win  would  be  to 
imperil  everything  that  the  laborer  has  striven  for  and  held 
dear  since  freedom  first  had  its  dawn  and  his  struggle  for 
justice  began. 

The  soldiers  at  the  front  know  this.  It  steels  their  muscles 
to  think  of  it.  They  are  crusaders.  They  are  fighting  for  no 
selfish  advantage  of  their  own.  They  would  despise  anyone 
who  fought  for  the  selfish  advantage  of  any  nation.  They 
are  giving  their  lives  that  homes  everywhere  as  well  as  the 
homes  they  love  in  America  may  be  kept  sacred  and  safe 
and  men  everywhere  be  free,  as  they  insist  upon  being  free. 
They  are  fighting  for  the  ideals  of  their  own  land — great 
ideals,  immortal  ideals,  ideals  which  shall  light  the  way  for 
all  men  to  the  places  where  justice  is  done  and  men  live 
with  lifted  heads  and  emancipated  spirits.  That  is  the  reason 
they  fight  with  solemn  joy  and  are  invincible. 

Let  us  make  this,  therefore,  a  day  of  fresh  comprehen- 
sion not  only  of  what  we  are  about  and  of  renewed  clear- 
eyed  reason  but  a  day  of  concentration  also  in  which  we 
devote  ourselves  without  pause  or  limit  to  the  great  task 
of  setting  our  own  country  and  the  whole  world  free  to 
render  justice  to  all  and  of  making  it  impossible  for  small 
groups  of  political  rulers  anywhere  to  disturb  our  peace  or 
the  peace  of  the  world  or  in  any  way  to  make  tools  and 
puppets  of  those  upon  whose  consent  and  upon  whose  power 
their  own  authority  and  their  own  very  existence  depends. 

We  may  count  upon  each  other.  The  nation  is  a  single 
mind.  It  is  taking  counsel  with  no  special  class.  It  is  serv- 
ing no  private  or  single  interest.  Its  own  mind  has  been 
cleared  and  fortified  by  these  days  which  bum  the  dross 
away.  The  light  of  a  new  conviction  has  penetrated  to  every 
class  among  us.  We  realize  as  we  never  realized  before  that 
we  are  comrades  dependent  upon  one  another,  irresistible 
when  united,  powerless  when  divided.  And  so  we  join 
hands  to  lead  the  world  to  a  new  and  better  day. 

Boston  Herald,  Sept.  2,  19 18. 


:    pt.  1 6]  A  FEW  WORDS  TO  AUSTRIA  275 

I  87.    A  FEW  WORDS  TO  AUSTRIA 

(September  16,  19 18) 

Despatch  to  the  Austrian  Government  Through 
Secretary  Lansing 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  that  there  is 
only  one  reply  which  it  can  make  to  the  suggestion  of  the 
Imperial  Austro-Hungarian  Government.  It  has  repeatedly 
and  with  entire  candor  stated  the  terms  upon  which  the 
United  States  would  consider  peace  and  can  and  will  enter- 
tain no  proposal  for  a  conference  upon  a  matter  concern- 
ing which  it  has  made  its  position  and  purpose  so  plain. 
New  York  Times,  Sept.  17,  19 18. 

88.    FIVE  NEEDS  OF  PERMANENT  PEACE 

(September  27,  19 18) 

Address  to  Public  Meeting  in  New  York,  Opening  the 
Fourth  Liberty  Loan 

I  am  not  here  to  promote  the  loan.  That  will  be  done — 
ably  and  enthusiastically  done — ^by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  loyal  and  tireless  men  and  women  who  have  under- 
taken to  present  it  to  you  and  to  our  fellow  citizens  through- 
out the  country;  and  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  of  their 
complete  success;  for  I  know  their  spirit  and  the  spirit  of 
the  country.  My  confidence  is  confirmed,  too,  by  the 
thoughtful  and  experienced  cooperation  of  the  bankers  here 
and  everywhere,  who  are  lending  their  invaluable  aid  and 
guidance.  I  have  come,  rather,  to  seek  an  opportunity  to 
present  to  you  some  thoughts  which  I  trust  will  serve  to 
give  you,  in  perhaps  fuller  measure  than  before,  a  vivid 
sense  of  the  great  issues  involved,  in  order  that  you  may 
appreciate  and  accept  with  added  enthusiasm  the  grave  sig- 
nificance of  the  duty  of  supporting  the  Government  by  your 
men  and  your  means  to  the  utmost  point  of  sacrifice  and 
self-denial.     No  man  or  woman  who  has  really  taken  in 


2  76    ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [191818 

what  this  war  means  can  hesitate  to  give  to  the  very  limitP 
of  what  they  have;  and  it  is  my  mission  here  to-night  to  try 
to  make  it  clear  once  more  what  the  war  really  means.    You 
will  need  no  other  stimulation  or  reminder  of  your  duty. 

At  every  turn  of  the  war  we  gain  a  fresh  consciousness  of 
what  we  mean  to  accomplish  by  it.  When  our  hope  and 
expectation  are  most  excited  we  think  more  definitely  than 
before  of  the  issues  that  hang  upon  it  and  of  the  purposes 
which  must  be  realized  by  means  of  it.  For  it  has  positive 
and  well-defined  purposes  which  we  did  not  determine  and 
which  we  cannot  alter.  No  statesman  or  assembly  created 
them;  no  statesman  or  assembly  can  alter  them.  They  have 
arisen  out  of  the  very  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  war. 
The  most  that  statesmen  or  assemblies  can  do  is  to  carry 
them  out  or  be  false  to  them.  They  were  perhaps  not  clear 
at  the  outset;  but  they  are  clear  now.  The  war  has  lasted 
more  than  four  years  and  the  whole  world  has  been  drawn 
into  it.  The  common  will  of  mankind  has  been  substituted 
for  the  particular  purposes  of  individual  States.  Individual 
statesmen  may  have  started  the  conflict,  but  neither  they  nor 
their  opponents  can  stop  it  as  they  please.  It  has  become 
a  peoples'  war,  and  peoples  of  all  sorts  and  races,  of  every 
degree  of  power  and  variety  of  fortune,  are  involved  in  its 
sweeping  processes  of  change  and  settlement.  We  came 
into  it  when  its  character  had  become  fully  defined  and  it 
was  plain  that  no  nation  could  stand  apart  or  be  indifferent 
to  its  outcome.  Its  challenge  drove  to  the  heart  of  every- 
thing we  cared  for  and  lived  for.  The  voice  of  the  war  had 
become  clear  and  gripped  our  hearts.  Our  brothers  from 
many  lands,  as  well  as  our  own  murdered  dead  under  the 
sea,  were  calling  to  us,  and  we  responded,  fiercely  and  of 
course. 

The  air  was  clear  about  us.  We  saw  things  in  their  full, 
convincing  proportions  as  they  were;  and  we  have  seen  them 
with  steady  eyes  and  unchanging  comprehension  ever  since. 
We  accepted  the  issues  of  the  war  as  facts,  not  as  any  group 
of  men  either  here  or  elsewhere  had  defined  them,  and  we 
can  accept  no  outcome  which  does  not  squarely  meet  and 
settle  them.    Those  issues  are  these: 

Shall  the  military  power*  of  any  nation  or  group  of  nations 


Sept.  27]    FIVE  NEEDS  OF  PERMANENT  PEACE    277 

be  suffered  to  determine  the  fortunes  of  peoples  over  whom 
they  have  no  right  to  rule  except  the  right  of  force? 

Shall  strong  nations  be  free  to  wrong  weak  nations  and 
make  them  subject  to  their  purpose  and  interest? 

Shall  peoples  be  ruled  and  dominated,  even  in  their  own 
internal  affairs,  by  arbitrary  and  irresponsible  force  or  by 
their  own  will  and  choice? 

Shall  there  be  a  common  standard  of  right  and  privilege 
for  all  peoples  and  nations  or  shall  the  strong  do  as  they  will 
and  the  weak  suffer  without  redress? 

Shall  the  assertion  of  right  be  haphazard  and  by  casual 
alliance  or  shall  there  be  a  common  concert  to  oblige  the 
observance  of  common  rights? 

No  man,  no  group  of  men,  chose  these  to  be  the  issues  of 
the  struggle.  They  are  the  issues  of  it;  and  they  must  be 
settled — by  no  arrangement  or  compromise  or  adjustment  of 
interests,  but  definitely  and  once  for  all  and  with  a  full  and 
unequivocal  acceptance  of  the  principle  that  the  interest  of 
the  weakest  is  as  sacred  as  the  interest  of  the  strongest. 

This  is  what  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  a  permanent 
peace,  if  we  speak  sincerely,  intelligently,  and  with  a  real 
knowledge  and  comprehension  of  the  matter  we  deal  with. 

We  are  all  agreed  that  there  can  be  no  peace  obtained  by 
any  kind  of  bargain  or  compromise  with  the  Governments 
of  the  Central  Empires,  because  we  have  dealt  with  them 
already  and  have  seen  them  deal  with  other  Governments 
that  were  parties  to  this  struggle,  at  Brest-Litovsk  and 
Bucharest.  They  have  convinced  us  that  they  are  without 
honor  and  do  not  intend  justice.  They  observe  no  cove- 
nants, accept  no  principle  but  force  and  their  own  interest. 
We  cannot  "come  to  terms"  with  them.  They  have  made 
it  impossible.  The  German  people  must  by  this  time  be 
fully  aware  that  we  cannot  accept  the  word  of  those  who 
forced  this  war  upon  us.  We  do  not  think  the  same  thoughts 
or  speak  the  same  language  of  agreement. 

It  is  of  capital  importance  that  we  should  also  be  explicitly 
agreed  that  no  peace  shall  be  obtained  by  any  kind  of 
compromise  or  abatement  of  the  principles  we  have  avowed 
as  the  principles  for  which  we  are  fighting.  There  should 
exist  no  doubt  about  that.    I  am,  therefore,  going  to  take 


278     ADDRESSES    OF    PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

the  liberty  of  speaking  with  the  utmost  frankness  about  the 
practical  implications  that  are  involved  in  it. 

If  it  be  indeed  and  in  truth  the  common  object  of  the 
Governments  associated  against  Germany  and  of  the  nations 
whom  they  govern,  as  I  believe  it  to  be,  to  achieve  by  the 
coming  settlements  a  secure  and  lasting  peace,  it  will  be 
necessary  that  all  who  sit  down  at  the  peace  table  shall  come 
ready  and  willing  to  pay  the  price,  the  only  price,  that  will 
procure  it;  and  ready  and  willing,  also,  to  create  in  some 
virile  fashion  the  only  instrumentality  by  which  it  can  be 
made  certain  that  the  agreements  of  the  peace  will  be  honored 
and  fulfilled. 

That  price  is  impartial  justice  in  every  item  of  the  settle- 
ment, no  matter  whose  interest  is  crossed;  and  not  only 
impartial  justice,  but  also  the  satisfaction  of  the  several  peo- 
ples whose  fortunes  are  dealt  with.  That  indispenasble  in- 
strumentality is  a  League  of  Nations  formed  under  cove- 
nants that  will  be  efficacious.  Without  such  an  instru- 
mentality, by  which  the  peace  of  the  world  can  be  guaran- 
teed, peace  will  rest  in  part  upon  the  word  of  outlaws,  and 
only  upon  that  word.  For  Germany  will  have  to  redeem 
her  character,  not  by  what  happens  at  the  peace  table  but  by 
what  follows. 

And,  as  I  see  it,  the  constitution  of  that  League  of  Nations 
and  the  clear  definition  of  its  objects  must  be  a  part,  is  in  a 
sense  the  most  essential  part,  of  the  peace  settlement  itself. 
It  cannot  be  formed  now.  If  formed  now,  it  would  be  merely 
a  new  alliance  confined  to  the  nations  associated  against  a 
common  enemy.  It  is  not  likely  that  it  could  be  formed 
after  the  settlement.  It  is  necessary  to  guarantee  the  peace; 
and  the  peace  cannot  be  guaranteed  as  an  afterthought. 
The  reason,  to  speak  in  plain  terms  again,  why  it  must  be 
guaranteed  is  that  there  will  be  parties  to  the  peace  whose 
promises  have  proved  untrustworthy,  and  means  must  be 
found  in  connection  with  the  peace  settlement  itself  to  re- 
move that  source  of  insecurity.  It  would  be  folly  to  leave 
the  guarantee  to  the  subsequent  voluntary  action  of  the 
Governments  we  have  seen  destroy  Russia  and  deceive 
Rumania. 

But  these  general  terms  do  not  disclose  the  whole  matter. 


Sept.  2  7]    FIVE  NEEDS  OF  PERMANENT  PEACE    279 

Some  details  are  needed  to  make  them  sound  less  like  a 
thesis  and  more  like  a  practical  program.  These,  then,  are 
some  of  the  particulars,  and  I  state  them  with  the  greater 
confidence  because  I  can  state  them  authoritatively  as  rep- 
resenting this  Government's  interpretation  of  its  own  duty 
with  regard  to  peace: 

First,  the  impartial  justice  meted  out  must  involve  no 
discrimination  between  those  to  whom  we  wish  to  be  just  and 
those  to  whom  we  do  not  wish  to  be  just.  It  must  be  a 
justice  that  plays  no  favorites  and  knows  no  standard  but 
the  equal  rights  of  the  several  peoples  concerned; 

Second,  no  special  or  separate  interest  of  any  single  nation 
or  any  group  of  nations  can  be  made  the  basis  of  any  part  of 
the  settlement  which  is  not  consistent  with  the  common 
interest  of  all; 

Third,  there  can  be  no  leagues  or  alliances  or  special  cove- 
nants and  understandings  within  the  general  and  common 
family  of  the  League  of  Nations; 

Fourth,  and  more  specifically,  there  can  be  no  special, 
selfish  economic  combinations  within  the  league  and  no  em- 
ployment or  any  form  of  economic  boycott  or  exclusion 
except  as  the  power  of  economic  penalty  by  exclusion  from 
the  markets  of  the  world  may  be  vested  in  the  League  of 
Nations  itself  as  a  means  of  discipline  and  control: 

Fifth,  all  international  agreements  and  treaties  of  every 
kind  must  be  made  known  in  their  entirety  to  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

Special  alliances  and  economic  rivalries  and  hostilities  have 
been  the  prolific  source  in  the  modem  world  of  the  plans 
and  passions  that  produce  war.  It  would  be  an  insincere 
as  well  as  an  insecure  peace  that  did  not  exclude  them  in 
definite  and  binding  terms. 

The  confidence  with  which  I  venture  to  speak  for  our 
people  in  these  matters  does  not  spring  from  our  traditions 
merely  and  the  well-known  principles  of  international  action 
which  we  have  always  professed  and  followed.  In  the  same 
sentence  in  which  I  say  that  the  United  States  will  enter  into 
no  special  arrangements  or  understandings  with  particular 
nations  let  me  say  also  that  the  United  States  is  prepared 
to  assume  its  full  share  of  responsibility  for  the  maintenance 


28o    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

of  the  common  covenants  and  understandings  upon  which 
peace  must  henceforth  rest.  We  still  read  Washington's 
immortal  warning  against  "entangling  alliances"  with  full 
comprehension  and  an  answering  purpose.  But  only  special 
and  limited  alliances  entangle;  and  we  recognize  and  accept 
the  duty  of  a  new  day  in  which  we  are  permitted  to  hope 
for  a  general  alliance  which  will  avoid  entanglements  and 
clear  the  air  of  the  world  for  common  understandings  and 
the  maintenance  of  common  rights. 

I  have  made  this  analysis  of  the  international  situation 
which  the  war  has  created,  not,  of  course,  because  1  doubted 
whether  the  leaders  of  the  great  nations  and  peoples  with 
whom  we  are  associated  were  of  the  same  mind  and  enter- 
tained a  like  purpose,  but  because  the  air  every  now  and 
again  gets  darkened  by  mists  and  groundless  doubtings  and 
mischievous  perversions  of  counsel  and  it  is  necessary  once 
and  again  to  sweep  all  the  irresponsible  talk  about  peace 
intrigues  and  weakening  m.orale  and  doubtful  purpose  on  the 
part  of  those  in  authority  utterly,  and  if  need  be  uncere- 
moniously, aside  and  say  things  in  the  plainest  words  that 
can  be  found,  even  when  it  is  only  to  say  over  again  what 
has  been  said  before,  quite  as  plainly  if  in  less  unvarnished 
terms. 

As  I  have  said,  neither  I  nor  any  other  man  in  govern- 
mental authority  created  or  gave  form  to  the  issues  of  this 
war.  I  have  simply  responded  to  them  with  such  vision 
as  I  could  command.  But  I  have  responded  gladly  and 
with  a  resolution  that  has  grown  warmer  and  more  con- 
fident as  the  issues  have  grown  clearer  and  clearer.  It  is 
now  plain  that  they  are  issues  which  no  man  can  pervert 
unless  it  be  wilfully.  I  am  bound  to  fight  for  them,  and 
happy  to  fight  for  them  as  time  and  circumstance  have 
revealed  them  to  me  as  to  all  the  world.  Our  enthusiasm 
for  them  grows  more  and  more  irresistible  as  they  stand  out 
in  more  and  more  vivid  and  unmistakable  outline. 

And  the  forces  that  fight  for  them  draw  into  closer  and 
closer  array,  organize  their  millions  into  more  and  more  un- 
conquerable might,  as  they  become  more  and  more  distinct 
to  the  thought  and  purpose  of  the  peoples  engaged.  It  is  the 
peculiarity  of  this  great  war  that  while  statesmen  have 


Sept.  27]    FIVE  NEEDS  OF  PERMANENT  PEACE    281 

seemed  to  cast  about  for  definitions  of  their  purpose  and 
have  sometimes  seemed  to  shift  their  ground  and  their  point 
of  view,  the  thought  of  the  mass  of  men,  whom  statesmen 
are  supposed  to  instruct  and  lead,  has  grown  more  and 
more  unclouded,  more  and  more  certain  of  what  it  is  that 
they  are  fighting  for.  National  purposes  have  fallen  more 
and  more  into  the  background  and  the  common  purpose  of 
enlightened  mankind  has  taken  their  place.  The  counsels 
of  plain  men  have  become  on  all  hands  more  simple  and 
straightforward  and  more  unified  than  the  counsels  of  sophis- 
ticated men  of  affairs,  who  still  retain  the  impression  that 
they  are  playing  a  game  of  power  and  playing  for  high 
stakes.  That  is  why  I  have  said  that  this  is  a  peoples'  war, 
not  a  statesmen's.  Statesmen  must  follow  the  clarified 
common  thought  or  be  broken. 

I  take  that  to  be  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  assem- 
blies and  associations  of  many  kinds  made  up  of  plain 
workaday  people  have  demanded,  almost  every  time  they 
came  together,  and  are  still  demanding,  that  the  leaders  of 
their  Governments  declare  to  them  plainly  what  it  is,  exactly 
what  it  is,  that  they  are  seeking  in  this  war,  and  what  they 
think  the  items  of  the  final  settlement  should  be.  They  are 
not  yet  satisfied  with  what  they  have  been  told.  They  still 
seem  to  fear  that  they  are  getting  what  they  ask  for  only 
in  statesmen's  terms, — only  in  the  terms  of  territorial  ar- 
rangements and  divisions  of  power,  and  not  in  terms  of 
broad-visioned  justice  and  mercy  and  peace  and  the  satis- 
faction of  those  deep-seated  longings  of  oppressed  and  dis- 
tracted men  and  women  and  enslaved  peoples  that  seem  to 
them  the  only  things  worth  fighting  a  war  for  that  engulfs 
the  world.  Perhaps  statesmen  have  not  always  recognized 
this  changed  aspect  of  the  whole  world  of  policy  and  action. 
Perhaps  they  have  not  always  spoken  in  direct  reply  to  the 
questions  asked  because  they  did  not  know  how  searching 
those  questions  were  and  what  sort  of  answers  they  de- 
manded. 

But  I,  for  one,  am  glad  to  attempt  the  answer  again  and 
again,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  make  it  clearer  and  clearer 
that  my  one  thought  is  to  satisfy  those  who  struggle  in  the 
ranks  and  are,  perhaps  above  all  others,  entitled  to  a  reply 


282     ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

whose  meaning  no  one  can  have  any  excuse  for  misunder- 
standing, if  he  imderstands  the  language  in  which  it  is  spoken 
or  can  get  someone  to  translate  it  correctly  into  his  own. 
And  I  believe  that  the  leaders  of  the  Governments  with  which 
we  are  associated  will  speak,  as  they  have  occasion,  as 
plainly  as  I  have  tried  to  speak.  I  hope  that  they  will  feel 
free  to  say  whether  they  think  that  I  am  in  any  degree 
mistaken  in  my  interpretation  of  the  issues  involved  or  in 
my  purpose  with  regard  to  the  means  by  which  a  satisfactory 
settlement  of  those  issues  may  be  obtained.  Unity  of  pur- 
pose and  of  counsel  are  as  imperatively  necessary  in  this 
war  as  was  unity  of  command  in  the  battlefield;  and  with 
perfect  unity  of  purpose  and  counsel  will  come  assurance 
of  complete  victory.  It  can  be  had  in  no  other  way. 
"Peace  drives"  can  be  effectively  neutralized  and  silenced 
only  by  showing  that  every  victory  of  the  nations  associated 
against  Germany  brings  the  nations  nearer  the  sort  of  peace 
which  will  bring  security  and  reassurance  to  all  peoples  and 
make  the  recurrence  of  another  such  struggle  of  pitiless  force 
and  bloodshed  forever  impossible,  and  that  nothing  else  can. 
Germany  is  constantly  intimating  the  "terms"  she  will  accept; 
and  always  finds  that  the  world  does  not  want  terms.  It 
wishes  the  final  triumph  of  justice  and  fair  dealing. 

New  York  Times,  Sept.  28,  19 18. 


89.     COLLEGE   SOLDIERS 

(October  i,  1918) 

Public  Message  to  the  Student  Corps 

The  step  you  have  taken  is  a  most  significant  one.  By 
it  you  have  ceased  to  be  merely  individuals,  each  seeking 
to  perfect  himself  to  win  his  own  place  in  the  world,  and 
have  become  comrades  in  the  common  cause  of  making  the 
world  a  better  place  to  live  in.  You  have  joined  yourselves 
to  the  entire  manhood  of  the  country,  and  pledged,  as  did 
your  forefathers,  "your  lives,  your  fortunes  and  your  sacred 
honor  to  the  freedom  of  humanity." 


Oct.   i]  COLLEGE    SOLDIERS  283 

The  enterprise  upon  which  you  have  embarked  is  a 
hazardous  and  difficult  one.  This  is  not  a  war  of  words; 
this  is  not  a  scholastic  struggle.  It  is  a  war  of  ideals,  yet 
fought  with  all  the  devices  of  science  and  with  the  power 
of  machinery.  To  succeed,  you  must  not  only  be  inspired 
by  the  ideals  for  which  this  country  stands,  but  you  must 
also  be  masters  of  the  technique  with  which  the  battle  is 
fought.  You  must  not  only  be  thrilled  with  zeal  for  the 
common  welfare,  but  you  must  also  be  master  of  the  weapons 
of  to-day. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  issue.  The  spirit  that  is 
revealed  and  the  manner  in  which  America  has  responded  to 
the  call  is  indomitable.  I  have  no  doubt  that  you  will  use 
your  utmost  strength  to  maintain  that  spirit  to  carry  it  for- 
ward to  the  final  victory  that  will  certainly  be  ours. 

Boston  Herald,  Oct.  2,   19 18. 


90.    QUESTION  OF  AN  ARMISTICE 

(October  8,  1918) 

Despatch  to  the  German  Government  Through 
Secretary  Lansing 

Before  making  reply  to  the  request  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  and  in  order  that  that  reply  shall  be  as 
candid  and  straightforward  as  the  momentous  interests  in- 
volved require,  the  President  of  the  United  States  deems  it 
necessary  to  assure  himself  of  the  exact  meaning  of  the  note 
of  the  Imperial  Chancellor. 

Does  the  Imperial  Chancellor  mean  that  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  accepts  the  terms  laid  dovm  by  the  Presi- 
dent in  his  address  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  on 
the  8th  of  January  last  and  in  subsequent  addresses  and  that 
its  object  in  entering  into  discussions  would  be  only  to  agree 
upon  the  practical  details  of  their  application? 

The  President  feels  bound  to  say  with  regard  to  the 
suggestion  of  an  armistice  that  he  would  not  feel  at  liberty 
to  propose  a  cessation  of  arms  to  the  governments  with  which 


284    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

the  government  of  the  United  States  is  associated  against 
Ijie  Central  Powers  so  long  as  the  armies  of  those  powers  are 
upon  their  soil.  The  good  faith  of  any  discussion  would 
manifestly  depend  upon  the  consent  of  the  Central  Powers 
immediately  to  withdraw  their  forces  everywhere  from 
invaded  territory. 

The  President  also  feels  that  he  is  justified  in  asking 
whether  the  Imperial  Chancellor  is  speaking  merely  for  the 
constituted  authorities  of  the  empire  who  have  so  far  con- 
ducted the  war.  He  deems  the  answer  to  these  questions 
vital  from  every  point  of  vie*w. 

Boston  Herald,  Oct.  9,  19 18. 


91.    NO  NEGOTIATED  PEACE  WITH  GERMANY 

(October  14,  19 18) 

Despatch  to  the  German  Government  Through 
Secretary  Lansing 

The  imqualified  acceptance  by  the  present  German  Gov- 
ernment and  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Reichstag  of  the 
terms  laid  down  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  his  address  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
on  the  8th  of  January,  19 18,  and  in  his  subsequent  ad- 
dresses, justifies  the  President  in  making  a  frank  and  direct 
statement  of  his  decision  with  regard  to  the  communications 
of  the  German  Government  of  the  8th  and  12th  of  October, 
1918. 

It  must  be  clearly  understood  that  the  process  of  evacua- 
tion and  the  conditions  of  an  armistice  are  matters  which 
must  be  left  to  the  judgment  and  advice  of  the  military 
advisors  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Allied  Governments,  and  the  President  feels  it  his  duty  to 
say  that  no  arrangement  can  be  accepted  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  which  does  not  provide  abso- 
lutely satisfactory  safeguards  and  guarantees  of  the  main- 
tenance of  the  present  military  supremacy  of  the  armies  of 
the  United  States  and  the  Allies  in  the  field. 


Oct.  14]         NO  PEACE  WITH  GERMANY  285 

He  feels  confident  that  he  can  safely  assume  that  nothing 
but  this  will  also  be  the  judgment  and  decision  of  the  Allied 
Governments. 

The  President  feels  that  it  is  also  his  duty  to  add  that 
neither  the  Government  of  the  United  States  nor,  he  is  quite 
sure,  the  Governments  with  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  associated  as  a  belligerent,  will  consent  to 
consider  an  armistice  so  long  as  the  armed  forces  of  Germany 
continue  the  illegal  and  inhumane  practices  which  they  still 
persist  in. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  German  Government  approaches 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  proposals  of  peace, 
its  submarines  are  engaged  in  sinking  passenger  ships  at  sea, 
and  not  the  ships  alone,  but  the  very  boats  in  which  their 
passengers  and  crew  seek  to  make  their  way  to  safety; 
and  in  their  present  enforced  withdrawal  from  Flanders  and 
France  the  German  armies  are  pursuing  a  course  of  wanton 
destruction  which  has  always  been  regarded  as  in  direct 
violation  of  the  rules  and  practices  of  civilized  warfare. 
Cities  and  villages,  if  not  destroyed,  are  being  stripped  of  all 
they  contain,  not  only,  but  often  of  their  very  inhabitants. 
The  nations  associated  against  Germany  cannot  be  expected 
to  agree  to  a  cessation  of  arms  while  acts  of  inhumanity, 
spoliation  and  desolation  are  being  continued  which  they 
justly  look  upon  with  horror  and  with  burning  hearts. 

It  is  necessary,  also,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  pos- 
sibility of  misunderstanding,  that  the  President  should  very 
solemnly  call  the  attention  of  the  Government  of  Germany 
to  the  language  and  plain  intent  of  one  of  the  terms  of 
peace  which  the  German  Government  has  now  accepted.  It 
is  contained  in  the  address  of  the  President  delivered  at 
Mount  Vernon  on  the  Fourth  of  July  last. 

It  is  as  follows:  'The  destruction  of  every  arbitrary  power 
anywhere  that  can  separately,  secretly  and  of  its  single  choice 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  world;  or,  if  it  cannot  be  presently 
destroyed,  at  least  its  reduction  to  virtual  impotency.  The 
power  which  has  hitherto  controlled  the  German  nation  is  of 
the  sort  here  described.  It  is  within  the  choice  of  the  German 
nation  to  alter  it."  The  President's  words  just  quoted 
naturally  constitute  a  condition  precedent  to  peace,  if  peace 


286    ADDRESSES    OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

is  to  come  by  the  action  of  the  German  people  themselves. 
The  President  feels  bound  to  say  that  the  whole  process  of 
peace  will,  in  his  judgment,  depend  *ipon  the  definiteness 
and  the  satisfactory  character  of  the  guarantees  which  can 
be  given  in  this  fundamental  matter.  It  is  indispensable 
that  the  Governments  associated  against  Germany  should 
know  beyond  a  peradventure  with  whom  they  are  dealing. 

Boston  Herald  J  Oct.  15,  19 18. 


92.    THE  ARMISTICE  WITH  GERMANY 

(November  11,  1918) 
Address  to  Congress 

In  these  times  of  rapid  and  stupendous  change  it  will  in 
some  degree  lighten  my  sense  of  responsibility  to  perform  in 
person  the  duty  of  communicating  to  you  some  of  the  larger 
circumstances  of  the  situation  with  which  it  is  necessary  to 
deal. 

The  German  authorities,  who  have  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Supreme  War  Council  been  in  communication  with  Marshal 
Foch,  have  accepted  and  signed  the  terms  of  armistice  which 
he  was  authorized  and  instructed  to  communicate  to  them. 
These  terms  are  as  follows:  *  *  * 

The  war  thus  comes  to  an  end ;  for,  having  accepted  these 
terms  of  armistice,  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  German  com- 
mand to  renew  it. 

It  is  not  now  possible  to  assess  the  consequences  of 
this  great  consummation.  We  know  only  that  this  tragical 
war,  whose  consuming  flames  swept  from  one  nation  to 
another  until  all  the  world  was  on  fire,  is  at  an  end  and 
that  it  was  the  privilege  of  our  own  people  to  enter  it  at  its 
most  critical  juncture  in  such  fashion  and  in  such  force  as  to 
contribute,  in  a  way  of  which  we  are  all  deeply  proud,  to  the 
great  result.  We  know,  too,  that  the  object  of  the  war  is 
attained;  the  object  upon  which  all  free  men  had  set  their 
hearts;  and  attained  with  a  sweeping  completeness  which 
even  now  we  do  not  realize.     Armed  imperialism  such  as 


Nov.  ii]      THE  ARMISTICE  WITH  GERMANY      287 

the  men  conceived  who  were  but  yesterday  the  masters  of 
Germany  is  at  an  end,  its  illicit  ambitions  engulfed  in  black 
disaster.     Who  will  now  seek  to  revive  it? 

The  arbitrary  power  of  the  military  caste  of  Germany 
which  once  could  secretly  and  of  its  own  single  choice  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  world  is  discredited  and  destroyed. 
And  more  than  that — much  more  than  that — has  been  ac- 
complished. The  great  nations  which  associated  themselves 
to  destroy  it  have  now  definitely  united  in  the  common  pur- 
pose to  set  up  such  a  peace  as  will  satisfy  the  longing  of  the 
whole  world  for  disinterested  justice,  embodied  in  settlements 
which  are  based  upon  something  much  better  and  more  last- 
ing than  the  selfish  competitive  interests  of  powerful  States. 
There  is  no  longer  conjecture  as  to  the  objects  the  victors 
have  in  mind.  They  have  a  mind  in  the  matter,  not  only, 
but  a  heart  also.  Their  avowed  and  concerted  purpose  is  to 
satisfy  and  protect  the  weak  as  well  as  to  accord  their  just 
rights  to  the  strong. 

The  humane  temper  and  intention  of  the  victorious  Gov- 
ernments have  already  been  manifested  in  a  very  practical 
way.  Their  representatives  in  the  Supreme  War  Council  at 
Versailles  have  by  unanimous  resolution  assured  the  peoples 
of  the  Central  Empires  that  everything  that  is  possible  in 
the  circumstances  will  be  done  to  supply  them  with  food 
and  relieve  the  distressing  want  that  is  in  so  many  places 
threatening  their  very  lives;  and  steps  are  to  be  taken  imme- 
diately to  organize  these  efforts  at  relief  in  the  same  sys- 
tematic manner  that  they  were  organized  in  the  case  of 
Belgium.  By  the  use  of  the  idle  tonnage  of  the  Central 
Empires  it  ought  presently  to  be  possible  to  lift  the  fear  of 
utter  misery  from  their  oppressed  populations  and  set  their 
minds  and  energies  free  for  the  great  and  hazardous  tasks  of 
political  reconstruction  which  now  face  them  on  every  hand. 
Hunger  does  not  breed  reform;  it  breeds  madness  and  all 
the  ugly  distempers  that  make  an  ordered  life  impossible. 

For  with  the  fall  of  the  ancient  Governments,  which  rested 
like  an  incubus  on  the  peoples  of  the  Central  Empires,  has 
come  political  change  not  merely,  but  revolution;  and  revo- 
lution which  seems  as  yet  to  assume  no  final  and  ordered 
form,  but  to  run  from  one  fluid  change  to  another,  until 


288    ADDRESSES   OF   PRESIDENT   WILSON     [1918 

thoughtful  men  are  forced  to  ask  themselves,  with  what  gov- 
ernments and  of  what  sort  are  we  about  to  deal  in  the  making 
of  the  covenants  of  peace?  With  what  authority  will  they 
meet  us,  and  with  what  assurance  that  their  authority  will 
abide  and  sustain  securely  the  international  arrangements 
into  which  we  are  about  to  enter?  There  is  here  matter  for 
no  small  anxiety  and  misgiving.  When  peace  is  made,  upon 
whose  promises  and  engagements  besides  our  own  is  it  to 
rest? 

Let  us  be  perfectly  frank  with  ourselves  and  admit  that 
these  questions  cannot  be  satisfactorily  answered  now  or  at 
once.  But  the  moral  is  not  that  there  is  little  hope  of  an 
early  answer  that  will  suffice.  It  is  only  that  we  must  be 
patient  and  helpful  and  mindful  above  all  of  the  great  hope 
and  confidence  that  lie  at  the  heart  of  what  is  taking  place. 
Excesses  accomplish  nothing.  Unhappy  Russia  has  furnished 
abundant  recent  proof  of  that.  Disorder  immediately  de- 
feats itself.  If  excesses  should  occur,  if  disorder  should  for 
a  time  raise  its  head,  a  sober  second  thought  will  follow  and 
a  day  of  constructive  action,  if  we  help  and  do  not  hinder. 

The  present  and  all  that  it  holds  belongs  to  the  nations 
and  the  peoples  who  preserve  their  self-control  and  the  or- 
derly processes  of  their  Governments;  the  future  to  those 
who  prove  themselves  the  true  friends  of  mankind.  To  con- 
quer with  arms  is  to  make  only  a  temporary  conquest;  to 
conquer  the  world  by  earning  its  esteem  is  to  make  perma- 
nent conquest.  I  am  confident  that  the  nations  that  have 
learned  the  discipline  of  freedom  and  that  have  settled  with 
self-possession  to  its  ordered  practice  are  now  about  to  make 
conquest  of  the  world  by  the  sheer  power  of  example  and  of 
friendly  helpfulness. 

The  peoples  who  have  but  just  come  out  from  imder  the 
yoke  of  arbitrary  government  and  who  are  now  coming  at 
last  into  their  freedom  will  never  find  the  treasures  of  liberty 
they  are  in  search  of  if  they  look  for  them  by  the  light  of  the 
torch.  They  will  find  that  every  pathway  that  is  stained 
with  the  blood  of  their  own  brothers  leads  to  the  wilderness, 
not  to  the  seat  of  their  hope.  They  are  now  face  to  face 
with  their  initial  test.  We  must  hold  the  light  steady  until 
they  find  themselves.    And  in  the  meantime,  if  it  be  possible, 


Nov.  ii]      THE  ARMISTICE  WITH  GERMANY      289 

we  must  establish  a  peace  that  will  justly  define  their  place 
among  the  nations,  remove  all  fear  of  their  neighbors  and  of 
their  former  masters,  and  enable  them  to  live  in  security 
and  contentment  when  they  have  set  their  own  affairs  in 
order.  I,  for  one,  do  not  doubt  their  purpose  or  their 
capacity.  There  are  some  happy  signs  that  they  know  and 
will  choose  the  way  of  self-control  and  peacefii  accommo- 
dation. If  they  do,  we  shall  put  our  aid  at  their  disposal  in 
every  way  that  we  can.  If  they  do  not,  we  must  await  with 
patience  and  sympathy  the  awakening  and  recovery  that 
will  assuredly  come  at  last. 

New  York  Times,  Nov.  12,  19 18. 

93.    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD* 

(December  2,  19 18) 

Address  to  Congress 

The  year  that  has  elapsed  Eince  I  last  stood  before  you  to 
fulfill  my  constitutional  duty  to  give  Congress  from  time  to 
time  information  on  the  state  of  the  Union  has  been  so 
crowded  with  great  events,  great  processes,  and  great  results, 
that  I  cannot  hope  to  give  you  an  adequate  picture  of  i^s 
transactions  or  of  the  far-reaching  changes  which  have  been 
wrought  in  the  life  of  our  nation  and  of  the  world.  Vou 
have  yourselves  witnessed  these  things,  as  I  have.  It  is  too 
soon  to  assess  them ;  and  we  who  stand  in  the  midst  of  fliem 
and  are  part  of  them  are  less  qualified  than  men  of  another 
generation  will  be  to  say  what  they  mean,  or  even  what  tl^ey 
have  been.  But  some  great  outstanding  facts  are  unmis^- 
takable,  and  constitute  in  a  sense  part  of  the  public  business 
with  which  it  is  our  duty  to  deal.  To  state  them  is  to  set 
the  stage  for  the  legislative  smd  executive  action  which  must 
grow  out  of  them,  and  which  we  have  yet  to  shape  and 
determine. 

A  year  age  we  had  sent  145,198  men  overseas.    Since  then 


*  This  message  was  added  while  this  volume  was  partly  in 
type.     It  is  not  referred  to  in  any  way  in  the  Index. 


290      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

we  have  sent  1,950,513,  an  average  of  162,542  each  jaentfe, 
the  number,  in  fact,  rising  in  Msa^  last  to  245,951,  in  Junc'  > 
to  278,850,  in  }xii^to  307,182,  and  continuing  to  reach 
similar  figures  in  Aj^i^  and  September — in  August  289,570, 
and  in  September  257,438.  No  such  movement  of  troops 
ever  took  place  before  across  3,000  miles  of  sea,  followed  by 
adequate  equipment  and  supplies,  and  carried  safely  through 
extraordinary  dangers  of  attack — dangers  which  were  alike 
strange  and  infinitely  difficult  to  guard  against.  In  all  this 
movement  only  758  men  were  lost  by  enemy  attacks — 630  of 
whom  were  upon  a  single  English  transport  which  was  sunk 
near  the  Orkney  Islands. 

I  need  not  tell  you  what  lay  back  of  this  great  movement 
of  men  and  material.  It  is  not  invidious  to  say  that  back 
of  it  lay  a  supporting  organization  of  the  industries  of  the 
country  and  of  all  its  productive  activities  more  complete, 
more  thorough  in  method  and  effective  in  results,  more 
spirited  and  unanimous  in  purpose  and  effort  than  any  other 
great  belligerent  had  ever  been  able  to  effect.  We  profited 
greatly  by  the  experience  of  the  nations  which  had  akeady 
been  engaged  for  nearly  three  years.in  the  exigent  and  exact- 
ing business,  their  every  resource  and  every  executive  pro- 
ficiency taxed  to  the  utmost.  We  were  the  pupils.  But  we 
learned  quickly  and  acted  with  a  promptness  and  readiness 
of  cooperation  that  justify  our  great  pride  that  we  were  able 
to  serve  the  world  with  unparalleled  energy  and  qm^  accom- 
plisliment. 

B  ut  it  is  not  the  physical  scale  and  executive  efficiency  of 
preparation,  supply,  equipment,  and  despatch  that  I  would 
dwell  upon,  but  the  mettle  and  quality  of  the  officers  and 
men  we  sent  over  and  of  the  sailors  who  kept  the  seas,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  that  stood  behind  them.  No  soldiers 
or  sailors  ever  proved  themselves  more  qui^kljt  ready  for 
the  test  of  battle  or  acquitted  themselves  with  more  splendid 
courage  and  achievement  when  put  to  the  test.  Those  of 
us  who  played  some  part  in  directing  the  great  processes  by 
which  the  war  was  pushed  irresistibly  forv/ard  to  the  final 
triumph  may  mm^  forget  all  that  and  delight  our  though  s 
with  the  story  of  what  our  men  did.  Their  officers  under- 
stood the  grim  and  exacting  task  they  had  undertaken  aild 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        291 

performed  it  with  an  audacity,  efficiency,  and  unhesitating 
courage  that  touch  the  story  of  convoy  and  battle  with  im- 
perishable distinction  at  every  turn,  whether  the  enterprises 
were  great  or  small — from  their  chiefs,  Pershing  and  Sims, 
down  to  the  youngest  lieutenant;  and  their  men  were  worthy 
of  them — such  men  as  hardly  need  to  be  commanded,  and  go 
to  their  terrible  adventure  blithely  and  with  the  (pit*  intel- 
ligence of  those  who  know  just  what  it  is  they  would  accom- 
plish. I  am  proud  to  be  the  fellow-countryman  of  men  of 
such  stuff  and  valor.  Those  of  us  who  stayed  at  home  did 
our  duty;  the  war  could  not  have  been  won  or  the  gallant 
men  who  fought  it  given  their  opportunity  to  win  it  other- 
wise, but  for  many  a  leng"<k;y  we  shall  think  ourselves 
"accurs'd  w^e  were  not  there,  and  hold  our  manhood  cheap 
while  any  speaks  that  fought"  with  these  at  St.  Mihiel  or 
Thierry.  The  memory  of  those  days  of  triumphant  battle 
will  go  with  these  fortunate  men  to  their  graves;  and  each 
will  have  his  favorite  memory.  "Old  men  forget;  yes,  all 
shall  be  forgot,  but  he'll  remember  with  advantages  what 
feats  he  did  that  daj*." 

What  we  all  thank  God  for  with  deepest  gratitude  is  that 
our  men  went  in  force  into  the  line  of  battle  just  at  the 
critical  mom^at  when  the  whole  fate  of  the  world  seemed 
to  hang  in  the  balance,  and  threw  their  fresh  strength  into 
the  ranks  of  freedom  in  time,  to  turn  the  whole  tide  and 
sweep  of  the  fateful  struggle — turn  it  once  for  all,  so  that 
thenceforth  it  was  back,  back  for  their  enemies,  always 
back,  never  again  forward.  After  t^wkfc  it  was  only  a  scant 
four  months  before  the  commanders  of  the  Central  Empires 
ki:ew  themselves  beaten,  and  now  their  very  empires  are  in 
liquidation. 

And  throughout  it  all,  how  fine  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
was,  what  unity  of  purpose,  what  untiring  zeal,  what  eleva- 
tion of  purpose  ran  through  all  its  splendid  display  of 
strength,  its  untiring  accomplishment.  I  have  said  that  those 
of  us  who  stayed  at  home  to  do  the  work  of  organization  £ind 
supply  will  always  wish  that  we  had  been  with  the  men 
whom  we  sustained  by  our  labor;  but  we  can  never  be 
ashamed.  It  has  been  an  inspiring  thing  to  be  here  in  the 
midst  of  fine  men  who  had  turned  aside  from  every  private 


292      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

interest  of  their  own  and  devoted  the  whole  of  their  trained 
capacity  to  the  tasks  that  supplied  the  sinews  of  the  whole 
great  undertaking.  The  patriotism,  the  unselfishness,  the 
Sioroughgoing  devotion  and  distinguished  capacity  that 
marked  their  toilsome  labors  day  after  day,  month  after 
month,  have  made  them  fit  mates  and  comrades  of  the  men 
in  the  trenches  and  on  the  sea.  And  not  the  men  here  in 
Washington  only.  They  have  but  directed  the  vast  achieve- 
ment. Throughout  innumerable  factories,  upon  innumerable 
farms,  in  the  depths  of  coal  mines  and  iron  mines  and  copper 
mines,  wherever  the  stuffs  of  industry  were  to  be  obtained 
and  prepared,  in  the  shipyards,  on  the  railways,  at  the  docks, 
on  the  sea,  in  every  labor  that  was  needed  to  sustain  the 
battle  lines,  men  have  vied  with  each  other  to  do  their  part, 
and  do  it  well.  They  can  look  any  man  at  arms  in  the  face 
and  say,  We  also  strove  to  win  and  gave  the  best  that  was 
in  us  to  make  our  fleets  and  armies  sure  of  their  triumph. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  women — of  their  instant  intel- 
ligence, quickening  every  task  that  they  touched;  their  capac- 
ity for  organization  and  cooperation,  which  gave  their  action 
discipline  and  enhanced  the  effectiveness  of  everything  they 
attempted;  their  aptitude  at  tasks  to  which  they  had  never 
before  set  their  hands;  their  utter  self-sacrifice  alike  in  what 
they  did  and  in  what  they  gave?  Their  contribution  to  the 
great  result  is  beyond  appraisal.  They  have  added  a  new 
lustre  to  the  annals  of  American  womanhood. 

The  least  tribute  we  can  pay  them  is  to  make  them  the 
equals  of  men  in  political  rights,  as  they  have  proved  them- 
selves their  equals  in  every  field  of  practical  work  they  have 
entered,  whether  for  themselves  or  for  their  country.  These 
great  days  of  completed  achievements  would  be  sadly  marred 
were  we  to  omit  that  act  of  justice.  Besides  the  immense 
practical  services  they  have  rendered,  the  women  of  the 
country  have  been  moving  spirits  in  the  systematic  economies 
by  which  our  people  have  voluntarily  assisted  to  supply  the 
suffering  peoples  of  the  world  and  the  armies  of  every  front 
with  food  and  everything  else  that  we  had  that  would  serve 
the  common  cause.  The  details  of  such  a  story  can  never  be 
fully  written,  but  we  carry  them  at  our  hearts,  and  thank 
God  that  we  can  say  that  we  are  the  kinsmen  of  such. 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        293 

And  now  we  are  sure  of  the  great  triumph  for  which  every 
sacrifice  was  made.  It  has  come — come  in  its  completeness, 
and  with  the  pride  and  inspiration  of  these  days  of  achieve- 
ment quick  within  us,  we  turn  to  the  tasks  of  peace  again — a 
peace  secure  against  the  violence  of  irresponsible  monarchs 
and  ambitious  military  coteries,  and  made  ready  for  a  new 
order,  for  new  foundations  of  justice  and  fair  deaHng. 

We  are  about  to  give  order  and  organization  to  this  peace, 
not  only  for  ourselves  but  for  the  other  peoples  of  the  world 
as  well,  so  far  as  they  will  suffer  us  to  serve  them.  It  is 
international  justice  that  we  seek,  not  domestic  safety  merely. 
Our  thoughts  have  dwelt  of  late  upon  Europe,  upon  Asia, 
upon  the  Near  and  the  Far  East,  very  little  upon  the  acts 
of  peace  and  accommodation  that  wait  to  be  performed  at 
our  own  doors.  While  we  are  adjusting  our  relations  with 
the  rest  of  the  world,  is  it  not  of  capital  importance  that  we 
should  clear  away  all  groimds  of  misunderstanding  with  our 
immediate  neighbors  and  give  proof  of  the  friendship  we 
really  feel?  I  hope  that  the  members  of  the  Senate  will 
permit  me  to  speak  once  more  of  the  unratified  treaty  of 
adjustment  with  the  Republic  of  Colombia.  I  very  earnestly 
urge  upon  them  an  early  and  favorable  action  upon  that 
vital  matter.  I  believe  that  they  will  feel,  with  me,  that  the 
stage  of  affairs  is  now  set  for  such  action  as  will  be  not  only 
just  but  generous,  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  new  age  upon 
which  we  have  so  happily  entered. 

So  far  as  our  domestic  affairs  are  concerned,  the  problem 
of  our  return  to  peace  is  a  problem  of  economic  and  indus- 
trial readjustment.  That  problem  is  less  serious  for  us  than 
it  may  turn  out  to  be  for  the  nations  which  have  suffered 
the  disarrangements  and  the  losses  of  the  war  longer  than 
we.  Our  people,  moreover,  do  not  wait  to  be  coached  and 
led.  They  know  their  own  business,  are  quick  and  resource- 
ful at  every  readjustment,  definite  in  purpose,  and  self- 
reliant  in  action.  Any  leading  strings  we  might  seek  to  put 
them  in  would  speedily  become  hopelessly  tangled,  because 
they  would  pay  no  attention  to  them,  and  go  their  own  way. 
All  that  we  can  do  as  their  legislative  and  executive  servants 
is  to  mediate  the  process  of  change  here,  there,  and  else- 
where, as  we  may.     I  have  heard  much  counsel  as  to  the 


294     ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

plans  that  should  be  formed,  and  personally  conducted  to  a 
happy  consummation,  but  from  no  quarter  have  I  seen  any 
general  scheme  of  ' 'reconstruction"  emerge  which  I  thought 
it  likely  we  could  force  our  spirited  business  men  and  self- 
reliant  laborers  to  accept  with  due  pliancy  and  obedience. 

While  the  war  lasted  we  set  up  many  agencies  by  which 
to  direct  the  industries  of  the  country  in  the  services  it  was 
necessary  for  them  to  render,  by  which  to  make  sure  of  an 
abundant  supply  of  the  materials  needed,  by  which  to  check 
undertakings  that  could  for  the  time  be  dispensed  with,  and 
stimulate  those  that  were  most  serviceable  in  war,  by  which 
to  gain  for  the  purchasing  departments  of  the  government  a 
certain  control  over  the  prices  of  essential  articles  and  ma- 
terials, by  which  to  restrain  trade  with  alien  enemies,  make 
the  most  of  the  available  shipping,  and  systematize  financial 
transactions,  both  public  and  private,  so  that  there  would  be 
no  unnecessary  conflict  or  confusion — by  which,  in  short, 
to  put  every  material  energy  of  the  country  in  harness  to 
draw  the  common  load  and  make  of  us  one  team  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  a  great  task.  But  the  moment  we  knew 
the  armistice  to  have  been  signed  we  took  the  harness  off. 
Raw  materials,  upon  which  the  Government  had  kept  its 
hand  for  fear  there  should  not  be  enough  for  the  industries 
that  supplied  the  armies,  have  been  released  and  put  into 
the  general  market  again.  Great  industrial  plants  whose 
whole  output  and  machinery  had  been  taken  over  for  the  uses 
of  the  Government  have  been  set  free  to  return  to  the  uses  to 
which  they  were  put  before  the  war.  It  has  not  been  pos- 
sible to  remove  so  readily  or  so  quickly  the  control  of  food- 
stuffs and  of  shipping,  because  the  world  has  still  to  be  fed 
from  our  granaries  and  the  ships  are  still  needed  to  send 
supplies  to  our  men  overseas,  and  to  bring  the  men  back  as 
fast  as  the  disturbed  conditions  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water  permit.  But  even  these  restraints  are  being  relaxed  as 
much  as  possible,  and  more  and  more  as  the  weeks  go  by. 

Never  before  have  there  been  agencies  in  existence  in  this 
country  which  knew  so  much  of  the  field  of  supply,  of  labor, 
and  of  industry  as  the  War  Industries  Board,  the  War  Trade 
Board,  the  Labor  Department,  the  Food  Administration, 
and  the  Fuel  Administration  have  known  since  the  labors 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        295 

became  thoroughly  systematized,  and  they  have  not  been  iso- 
lated agencies.  They  have  been  directed  by  men  that  rep- 
resented the  permanent  departments  of  the  Government,  and 
so  have  been  the  centers  of  imified  and  cooperative  action. 
It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Executive,  therefore,  since  the 
armistice  (which  is  in  effect  a  complete  submission  of  the 
enemy) ,  to  put  the  knowledge  of  these  bodies  at  the  disposal 
of  the  business  men  of  the  country,  and  to  offer  their  intel- 
ligent mediation  at  every  point  and  in  every  matter  where 
it  was  desired.  It  is  surprising  how  fast  the  process  of  re- 
turn to  a  peace  footing  has  moved  in  the  three  weeks  since 
the  fighting  stopf)ed.  It  promises  to  outrun  any  inquiry  that 
may  be  instituted  and  any  aid  that  may  be  offered.  It  will 
not  be  easy  to  direct  it  any  better  than  it  will  direct  itself. 
The  American  business  man  is  of  quick  initiative. 

The  ordinairy  and  normal  processes  of  private  initiative  will 
not,  however,  provide  immediate  employment  for  all  of  the 
men  of  our  returning  armies.  Those  who  are  of  trained  ca- 
pacity, those  who  are  skilled  workmen,  those  who  have  ac- 
quired familiarity  wiith  established  businesses,  those  who  are 
ready  and  willing  to  go  to  the  farms,  all  those  whose  apti- 
tudes are  known  or  will  be  sought  out  by  employers,  will 
find  no  difficulty,  it  is  safe  to  say,  in  finding  place  and  em- 
ployment. But  there  will  be  others  who  will  be  at  a  loss 
where  to  gain  a  livelihood  unless  pains  are  taken  to  guide 
them  and  put  them  in  the  way  of  work.  There  will  be  a 
large  floating  residuum  of  labor  which  should  not  be  left 
wholly  to  shift  for  itself.  It  seems  to  me  important,  there- 
fore, that  the  development  of  public  works  of  every  sort 
should  be  promptly  resumed,  in  order  that  opportunities 
should  be  created  for  unskilled  labor  in  particular,  and  that 
plans  should  be  made  for  such  developments  of  our  unused 
lands  and  our  natural  resources  as  we  have  hitherto  lacked 
stimulation  to  undertake. 

I  particularly  direct  your  attention  to  the  very  practical 
plans  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  developed  in 
his  annual  report,  and  before  your  committees  for  the  recla- 
mation of  arid,  swamp,  and  cut-over  lands,  which  might,  if 
the  States  were  willing  and  able  to  cooperate,  redeem  some 
three  hundred  million  acres  of  land  for  cultivation.     There 


296     ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

are  said  to  be  fifteen  or  twenty  million  acres  of  land  in  the 
West,  at  present  arid,  for  whose  reclamation  water  is  avail- 
able, if  properly  conserved.  There  are  about  two  hundred 
and  thirty  million  acres  from  which  the  forests  have  been  cut, 
but  which  have  never  yet  been  cleared  for  the  plow,  and 
which  lie  waste  and  desolate.  These  lie  scattered  all  over 
the  Union.  And  there  are  nearly  eighty  million  acres  of 
land  that  lie  under  swamps  or  subject  to  periodical  overflow, 
or  too  wet  for  anything  but  grazing,  which  it  is  perfectly 
feasible  to  drain  and  protect  and  redeem.  The  Congress  can 
at  once  direct  thousands  of  the  returning  soldiers  to  the  recla- 
mation of  the  arid  lands  which  it  has  already  undertaken, 
if  it  will  but  enlarge  the  plans  and  the  appropriations  which 
it  has  intrusted  to  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  It  is 
possible  in  dealing  with  our  unused  land  to  effect  a  great 
rural  and  agricultural  development,  which  will  afford  the 
best  sort  of  opportunity  to  men  who  want  to  help  themselves, 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  thought  the  possible 
methods  out  in  a  way  which  is  worthy  of  your  most  friendly 
attention. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  control  which  must  yet  for  a  while, 
p>erhaps  for  a  long  time,  be  exercised  over  shipping  because 
of  priority  of  service  to  which  our  forces  overseas  are  entitled 
and  which  should  also  be  accorded  the  shipments  which  are 
to  save  recently  liberated  peoples  from  starvation  and  many 
devastated  regions  from  permanent  ruin.  May  I  not  say  a 
special  word  about  the  needs  of  Belgium  and  Northern 
France?  No  sums  of  money  paid  by  way  of  indemnity  will 
serve  of  themselves  to  save  them  from  hopeless  disadvantage 
for  years  to  come.  Something  more  must  be  done  than  merely 
find  the  money. 

If  they  had  money  and  raw  materials  in  abundance  to- 
morrow, they  could  not  resume  their  place  in  the  industry  of 
the  world  to-morrow — 'the  very  important  place  they  held 
before  the  flame  of  war  swept  across  them.  Many  of  their 
factories  are  razed  to  the  ground.  Much  of  their  machinery 
is  destroyed  or  has  been  taken  away.  Their  people  are 
scattered,  and  many  of  their  best  workmen  are  dead.  Their 
markets  will  be  taken  by  others,  if  they  are  not  in  some  spe- 
cial way  assisted  to  rebuild  their  factories  and  replace  their 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        297 

lost  instruments  of  manufacture.  They  should  not  be  left 
to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  sharp  competition  for  materials  and 
for  industrial  facilities  which  is  now  to  set  in. 

I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  Congress  will  not  be  unwilling, 
if  it  should  become  necessary,  to  grant  to  some  such  agency 
as  the  War  Trade  Board  the  right  to  establish  priorities  of 
export  and  supply  for  the  benefit  of  these  people  whom  we 
have  been  so  happy  to  assist  in  saving  from  the  German 
terror  and  whom  we  must  not  now  thoughtlessly  leave  to 
shift  for  themselves  in  a  pitiless  competitive  market. 

For  the  steadying  and  facilitation  of  our  own  domestic 
business  readjustments  nothing  is  more  important  than  the 
immediate  determination  of  the  taxes  that  are  to  be  levied 
for  1918,  1919,  and  1920.  As  much  of  the  burden  of  tax- 
ation must  be  lifted  from  business  as  sound  methods  of  fi- 
nancing the  Government  will  permit,  and  those  who  conduct 
the  great  essential  industries  of  the  country  must  be  told  as 
exactly  as  possible  what  obligations  to  the  Government  they 
will  be  expected  to  meet  in  the  years  immediately  ahead  of 
them;  it  will  be  of  serious  consequence  to  the  country  to 
delay  removing  all  uncertainties  in  this  matter  a  single  day 
longer  than  the  right  processes  of  debate  justify.  It  is  idle 
to  talk  of  successful  and  confident  business  reconstruction 
before  those  uncertainties  are  resolved. 

If  the  war  had  continued  it  would  have  been  necessary  to 
raise  at  least  $8,000,000,000  by  taxation  payable  in  the 
year  19 19;  but  the  war  has  ended  and  I  agree  with  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  it  will  be  safe  to  reduce  the 
amount  to  six  billions.  An  immediate  rapid  decline  in  the 
expenses  of  the  Government  is  not  to  be  looked  for.  Con- 
tracts made  for  war  supplies  will,  indeed,  be  rapidly  canceled 
and  liquidated,  but  their  immediate  liquidation  will  make 
heavy  drains  on  the  Treasury  for  the  months  just  ahead  of 
us. 

The  maintenance  of  our  forces  on  the  other  side  of  the 
sea  is  still  necessary.  A  considerable  proportion  of  those 
forces  must  remain  in  Europe  during  the  period  of  occupa- 
tion, and  those  which  are  brought  home  will  be  transported 
and  demobilized  at  heavy  expense  for  months  to  come.  The 
interest  on  our  war  debt  must,  of  course,  be  paid  and  pro- 


298     ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

vision  made  for  the  retirement  of  the  obligations  of  the  Gov- 
ernment which  represent  it.  But  these  demands  will,  of 
course,  fall  much  below  what  a  continuation  of  military  oper- 
ations would  have  entailed,  and  six  biUions  should  suffice  to 
supply  a  sound  foundation  for  the  financial  operations  of  the 
year. 

I  entirely  concur  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
recomimending  that  the  two  billions  needed  in  addition  to  the 
four  billions  provided  by  existing  law  be  obtained  from  the 
profits  which  have  accrued  and  shall  accrue  from  war  con- 
tracts and  distinctively  war  business,  but  that  these  taxes 
be  confined  to  the  war  profits  accruing  in  19 18  or  in  19 19 
from  business  originating  in  war  contracts.  I  urge  your 
acceptance  of  his  recommendation  that  provision  be  made 
now,  not  subsequently,  that  the  taxes  to  be  paid  in  1920 
should  be  reduced  from  six  to  four  billions.  Any  arrange- 
ments less  definite  than  these  would  add  elements  of  doubt 
and  confusion  to  the  critical  period  of  industrial  readjust- 
ment through  which  the  country  must  now  immediately  pass, 
and  which  no  true  friend  of  the  nation's  essential  business 
interests  can  afford  to  be  responsible  for  creating  or  pro- 
longing. Clearly  determined  conditions,  clearly  and  simply 
charted,  are  indispensable  to  the  economic  revival  and  rapid 
industrial  development  which  may  confidently  be  expected, 
if  we  act  now  and  sweep  all  interrogation  points  away. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  Congress  will  carry  out  the 
naval  program  which  was  undertaken  before  we  entered  the 
war.  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  has  submitted  to  your  com- 
mittees for  authorization  that  part  of  the  program  which 
covers  the  building  plans  of  the  next  three  years.  These 
plans  have  been  prepared  along  the  lines  and  in  accordance 
with  the  policy  which  the  Congress  established,  not  under 
the  exceptional  conditions  of  the  war,  but  with  the  intention 
of  adhering  to  a  definite  method  of  development  for  the  navy. 
I  earnestly  recommend  the  uninterrupted  pursuit  of  that 
policy.  It  would  clearly  be  unwise  for  us  to  attempt  to 
adjust  our  program  to  a  future  world  policy  as  yet  undeter- 
mined. 

The  question  which  causes  me  the  greatest  concern  is  the 
question  of  the  policy  to  be  adopted  toward  the  railroads.    I 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        299 

frankly  turn  to  you  for  counsel  upon  it.  I  have  no  confident 
judgment  of  my  own.  I  do  not  see  how  any  thoughtful  man 
can  have  who  knows  anything  of  the  complexity  of  the  prob- 
lem. It  is  a  problem  which  must  be  studied,  studied  immedi- 
ately, and  studied  without  bias  or  prejudice.  Nothing  can 
be  gained  by  becoming  partisans  of  any  particular  plan  of 
settlement. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  administration  of  the  railways 
should  be  taken  over  by  the  Government  so  long  as  the  war 
lasted.  It  would  have  been  impossible  otherwise  to  establish 
and  carry  through  under  a  single  direction  the  necessary 
priorities  of  shipment.  It  would  have  been  impossible  other- 
wise to  combine  maximum  production  at  the  factories  and 
mines  and  farms  with  the  maximum  possible  car  supply  to 
move  the  products  to  the  ports  and  markets;  impossible  to 
route  troop  shipments  and  freight  shipments  without  regard 
to  the  advantage  of  the  roads  employed;  impossible  to  sub- 
ordinate, when  necessary,  all  questions  of  convenience  to  the 
public  necessity;  impossible  to  give  the  necessary  financial 
support  to  the  roads  from  the  public  treasury.  But  all  these 
necessities  have  now  been  served,  and  the  question  is.  What 
is  best  for  the  railroads  and  for  the  pubHc  in  the  future? 

Exceptional  circumstances  and  exceptional  methods  of 
administration  were  not  needed  to  convince  us  that  the  rail- 
roads were  not  equal  to  the  immense  tasks  of  transportation 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  rapid  and  continuous  develop- 
ments of  the  industries  of  the  country.  We  knew  that  al- 
ready. And  we  knew  that  they  were  unequal  to  it  partly 
because  their  full  cooperation  was  rendered  impossible  by 
law  and  their  competition  made  obligatory,  so  that  it  has 
been  impossible  to  assign  to  them  severally  the  traffic  which 
could  best  be  carried  by  their  respective  lines  in  the  interest 
of  expedition  and  national  economy. 

We  may  hope,  I  believe,  for  the  formal  conclusion  of  the 
war  by  a  treaty  by  the  time  Spring  has  come.  The  twenty- 
one  months  to  which  the  present  control  of  the  railways  is 
limited,  after  formal  proclamation  of  peace  shall  have  been 
made,  will  run  at  the  farthest,  I  take  it  for  granted,  only  to 
the  January  of  192 1.  The  full  equipment  of  the  railways 
which  the  Federal  Administration  had  planned  could  not  be 


300     ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

completed  within  any  such  period.  The  present  law  does  not 
permit  the  use  of  the  revenues  of  the  several  roads  for  the 
execution  of  such  plans  except  by  formal  contract  with  their 
Directors,  some  of  whom  will  consent  while  some  will  not, 
and  therefore  does  not  afford  sufficient  authority  to  imder- 
take  improvements  upon  the  scale  upon  which  it  would  be 
necessary  to  undertake  them.  Every  approach  to  this  diffi- 
cult subject-matter  of  decision  brings  us  face  to  face,  there- 
fore, with  this  unanswered  question:  What  is  it  right  that 
we  should  do  with  the  railroads,  in  the  i::terest  of  the  public 
and  in  fairness  to  their  owners?  Let  me  say  at  once  that  I 
have  no  answer  ready.  The  only  thing  that  is  perfectly 
clear  to  me  is  that  it  is  not  fair  either  to  the  public  or  to  the 
owners  of  the  railroads  to  leave  the  question  unanswered, 
and  that  it  will  presently  become  my  duty  to  relinquish  con- 
trol of  the  roads,  even  before  the  expiration  of  the  statuory 
period,  unless  there  should  appear  some  clear  prosp)ect  in  the 
meantime  of  a  legislative  solution.  Their  release  would  at 
least  produce  one  element  of  a  solution,  namely,  certainty 
and  a  quick  stimulation  of  private  initiative. 

I  believe  that  it  will  be  serviceable  for  me  to  set  forth  as 
explicitly  as  possible  the  alternative  courses  that  lie  open  to 
our  choice.  We  can  simply  release  the  roads  and  go  back  to 
the  old  conditions  of  private  management,  unrestricted  com- 
petition, and  multiform  regulation  by  both  State  and  Federal 
authorities;  or  we  can  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  estab- 
lish complete  control,  accompanied,  if  necessary,  by  actual 
Government  ownership;  or  we  can  adopt  an  intermediate 
course  of  modified  private  control,  under  a  more  unified  and 
affirmative  public  regulation  and  under  such  alterations  of 
the  law  as  will  permit  wasteful  competition  to  be  avoided 
and  a  considerable  degree  of  unification  of  administration 
to  be  effected,  as,  for  example,  by  regional  corporations,  under 
which  the  railways  of  definable  areas  would  be  in  effect 
combined  in  single  systems. 

The  one  conclusion  that  I  am  ready  to  state  with  confidence 
is  that  it  would  be  a  disservice  aHke  to  the  country  and  to 
the  owners  of  the  railroads  to  return  to  the  old  conditions 
unmodified.  Those  are  conditions  of  restraint  without  de- 
velopment.    There  is  nothing  affirmative  or  helpful  about 


Dec.  2]    ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD        301 

them.  What  the  country  chiefly  needs  is  that  all  its  means 
of  transportation  should  be  developed,  its  railways,  its  water- 
ways, its  highways,  and  its  countryside  roads.  Some  new 
element  of  policy,  therefore,  is  absolutely  necessary — ^neces- 
sary for  the  service  of  the  public,  necessary  for  the  release 
of  credit  to  those  who  are  administering  the  railways,  neces- 
sary for  the  protection  of  their  security  holders.  The  old 
policy  may  be  changed  much  or  little,  but  surely  it  cannot 
always  be  left  as  it  was.  I  hope  that  the  Congress  will  have 
a  complete  and  impartial  study  of  the  whole  problem  insti- 
tuted at  once  and  prosecuted  as  rapidly  as  possible.  I  stand 
ready  and  anxious  to  release  the  roads  from  the  present  con- 
trol, and  I  must  do  so  at  a  very  early  date,  as  by  waiting 
until  the  statutory  limit  of  time  is  reached  I  shall  be  merely 
prolonging  the  period  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  which  is 
hurtful  to  every  interest  concerned. 

I  welcome  this  occasion  to  announce  to  the  Congress  my 
purpose  to  join  in  Paris  the  representatives  of  the  Govern- 
ments with  which  we  have  been  associated  in  the  war  against 
the  Central  Empires  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  with  them 
the  main  features  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  I  realize  the  great 
inconveniences  that  will  attend  my  leaving  the  country,  par- 
ticularly at  this  time,  but  the  conclusion  that  it  was  my  para- 
mount duty  to  go  has  been  forced  upon  me  by  considerations 
which  I  hope  will  seem  as  conclusive  to  you  as  they  have 
seemed  to  me. 

The  Allied  Governments  have  accepted  the  bases  of  peace 
which  I  outlined  to  the  Congress  on  the  8  th  of  January  last, 
as  the  Central  Empires  also  have,  and  very  reasonably  desire 
my  personal  counsel  in  their  interpretation  and  application, 
and  it  is  highly  desirable  that  I  should  give  it  in  order  that 
the  sincere  desire  of  our  Government  to  contribute  without 
selfish  purpose  of  any  kind  to  settlements  that  will  be  of 
common  benefit  to  all  the  nations  concerned  may  be  made 
fully  manifest.  The  peace  settlements  which  are  now  to  be 
agreed  upon  are  of  transcendent  importance,  both  to  us  and 
to  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  I  know  of  no  business  or  in- 
terest which  should  take  precedence  of  them.  The  gallant 
men  of  our  armed  forces  on  land  and  sea  have  conspicuously 
fought  for  the  ideals  which  they  knew  to  be  the  ideals  of 


302      ADDRESSES  OF  PRESIDENT  WILSON      [1918 

their  country.  I  have  sought  to  express  those  ideals;  they 
have  accepted  my  statements  of  them  as  the  substance  of 
their  own  thought  and  purpose,  as  the  associated  Govern- 
ments have  accepted  them;  I  owe  it  to  them  to  see  to  it,  so 
far  as  in  me  lies,  that  no  false  or  mistaken  interpretation  is 
put  upon  them,  and  no  possible  effort  omitted  to  realize  them. 
It  is  now  my  duty  to  play  my  full  part  in  making  good  what 
they  offered  their  life's  blood  to  obtain.  I  can  think  of  no 
call  to  service  which  would  transcend  this. 

I  shall  be  in  close  touch  with  you  and  with  affairs  on  this 
side  of  the  water,  and  you  will  know  all  that  I  do.  At  my 
request  the  French  and  English  Governments  have  abso- 
lutely removed  the  censorship  of  cable  news  which  imtil 
within  a  fortnight  they  had  maintained,  and  there  is  now  no 
censorship  whatever  exercised  at  this  end,  except  upon  at- 
tempted trade  communications  with  enemy  countries.  It 
has  been  necessary  to  keep  an  open  wire  constantly  available 
between  Paris  and  the  Department  of  State,  and  another  be- 
tween France  and  the  Department  of  War.  In  order  that 
this  might  be  done  with  the  least  possible  interference  with 
the  other  uses  of  the  cables,  I  have  temporarily  taken  over 
the  control  of  both  cables  in  order  that  t|:iey  may  be  used 
as  a  single  system.  I  did  so  at  the  advice  of  the  most  ex- 
perienced cable  officials,  and  I  hope  that  the  results  will 
justify  my  hope  that  the  news  of  the  next  few  months  may 
pass  with  the  utmost  freedom,  and  with  the  least  possible 
delay  from  each  side  of  the  sea  to  the  other. 

May  I  now  hope,  gentlemen  of  the  Congress,  that  in  the 
delicate  tasks  I  shall  have  to  perform  on  the  other  side  of 
the  sea,  in  my  efforts  truly  and  faithfully  to  interpret  the 
principles  and  purposes  of  the  country  we  love,  I  may  have 
the  encouragement  and  the  added  strength  of  your  united 
support?  I  realize  the  magnitude  and  difficulty  of  the  duty 
I  am  undertaking.  I  am  poignantly  aware  of  its  grave  re- 
sponsibilities. I  am  the  servant  of  the  nation.  I  can  have 
no  private  thought  or  purpose  of  my  own  in  performing  such 
an  errand.  I  go  to  give  the  best  that  is  in  me  to  the  common 
settlements  which  I  must  now  assist  in  arriving  at  in  con- 
ference with  the  other  working  heads  of  the  associated  Gov- 
ernments.   I  shall  count  upon  your  friendly  countenance  and 


Dec.  2]     ADDRESS  BEFORE  GOING  ABROAD         303 

encouragement.  I  shall  not  be  inaccessible.  The  cables 
and  the  wireless  will  render  me  available  for  any  counsel 
or  service  you  may  desire  of  me,  and  I  shall  be  happy  in 
the  thought  that  I  am  constantly  in  touch  with  the  weighty 
matters  of  domestic  policy  with  which  we  shall  have  to  deal. 
I  shall  make  my  absence  as  brief  as  possible,  and  shall  hope 
to  return  with  the  happy  assurance  that  it  has  been  possible 
to  translate  into  action  the  great  ideals  for  which  America 
has  striven. 

New  York  Times,  December  3,  1918, 


INDEX 


Agriculture,  reform,  3-4;  im- 
portance of,  252-253;  De- 
partment, 73;  war-time,  199- 
201;  message  to  farmers, 
251-255 ;  governmental  war- 
time promotion,  252-253;  or- 
ganizations, 253  ;  loans,  253 ; 
fertilization  and  seed,  253; 
labor  problem,  253-254;  re- 
sponse to  war  demands,  254; 
further  demands  on,  254,  255 ; 
price  regulation,  255.  See 
also  Industry. 

Albert  of  Belgium,  message 
to,  231-232. 

Allegiance,  meaning  of  oath, 
86,  130. 

Alliances,  American  attitude, 
30;  and  essentials  of  peace, 
178,  279;  entangling,  and 
League  of  Nations,  280.  See 
also  League  of  Nations. 

Alsace  -  Lorraine,  restoration 
to  France,  249. 

America  First,  address  on, 
78-83. 

American  Bar  Association, 
address  before,  46-48. 

American  Federation  of  La- 
bor, address  before,  226-230. 

American  Revolution,  prin- 
ciples, 28-32. 

Americanism,  elements,  130. 
See  also  Democracy. 

Annapolis,  address  at,  36-39. 

"Arabic,"  sinking,  114. 

Arbitration,  international,  and 
Pan-Americanism,  99-100. 

Arbitration,  labor,  rejected  in 


railroad  question,  144,  147; 
limitations,  147;  compulsory, 
149;  judicial  enforcement  of 
awards,  149-150 ;  war-time, 
229-230. 

Arlington,  addresses  at,  32-36, 
209-210. 

Armaments,  limitation  in 
peace  terms,  177,  186,  248. 

Armed  merchantmen,  travel 
on,  109;  status  and  German 
policy,  113-114. 

Armed  neutrality,  policy,  182- 
183,   185;   impracticable,  190. 

Armistice,  despatches  on,  283- 
286;  withdrawal  of  German 
forces,  284 ;  character  of  Ger- 
man government,  284-286 ; 
guarantee  of  military  suprem- 
acy, 284;  as  military  affair^ 
284;  and  inhumanity  and 
devastation,  285 ;  announce- 
ment to  Congress,  286-289; 
finality,  286. 

Arms,  exportation,  and  neu- 
trality, 84-85. 

Army,  American,  self-sacrifice 
and  courage  of  soldier,  33- 
34,  75;  and  industrial  pre- 
paredness, 102;  Mexican  ex- 
pedition, 110-111;  address  to 
West  Point  graduates,  125- 
131;  former  service  of  offi- 
cers, 126;  possibilities  of 
present  service,  126,  131 ;  and 
militarism,  128;  officers  as 
citizens,  129;  officers  and 
Americanism,  129-131;  and 
World  War,  197 ;  message  to 


305 


3o6 


INDEX 


drafted  men,  222-223;  draft 
and  farm  labor,  253-254; 
message  to  student  corps, 
282-283.  See  also  Arma- 
ments ;  Militarism ;  Prepar- 
edness. 

Associated  Press,  address  be- 
fore, 78-83;  power,  78;  and 
public  opinion,  82-83. 

Associated  Workers  op  the 
World,  and  anarchy,  230. 

Atlantic  City,  address  at,  154- 
157. 

Austria  -  Hungary,  American 
attitude  toward,  195-196;  as 
Germany's  tool,  213,  214 ;  and 
peace  conditions,  235,  249; 
war  with,  advised,  237-238; 
rejection  of  conference  pro- 
posed by,  275;  revolution  in, 
287-289.  See  also  Peace; 
World  War. 

Autocracy,  designs  and  World 
War,  193,  205,  212-214,  220, 
273;  and  peace  concert,  193; 
spies  and  intrigues,  194,  211- 
212,  216;  deceitful  peace 
drives,  206-207,  214-216,  228, 
234,  244,  256-257;  and  status 
quo  ante,  207,  220-221;  des- 
peration, 214-215;  no  peace 
with,  221-222;  233,  277,  284, 
285;  overthrow  essential  to 
peace,  268;  as  issue  of  the 
war,  276-277 ;  overthrown, 
287.    See  also  Militarism. 

Balance  of  Power,  and  per- 
manent peace,  174-175,  186, 
208. 

Balfour,  Minister,  and  resto- 
ration of  Palestine,  272. 

Balkans,  deliverance,  235;  in 
peace  terms,  249.  See  also 
Middle  Europe  Empire;  Na- 
tions by  Name. 

Baltimore,  address  at,  157- 
162. 

Banking,  American,  reform, 
3 ;  Federal  Reserve,  133,  136 ; 


and  foreign  exchange,  158- 
159;  loans  to  farmers,  253. 
See  also  Business;  Finances. 

Barry,  John,  address  at  statue 
of,  28-32. 

Belgian  relief,  German  viola- 
tions, 189. 

Belgium,  message  of  sympa- 
thy, 231-232 ;  reparation,  235 ; 
essentials  in  peace  terms,  248- 
249.  See  also  Peace;  World 
War. 

Berlin-Bagdad  Railroad,  pur- 
pose, 228. 

Bible,  reading  by  soldiers,  217- 
218. 

Bonds,  purchase,  258;  fourth 
loan,  275.    See  also  Finances. 

Boundary  disputes,  and  Pan- 
Americanism,  99. 

Brandeis,  L.  D.,  qualifications 
for  Supreme  Court  Justice, 
117-120. 

Brest  -  Litovsk  negotiations, 
244. 

Bryan,  Secretary,  communica- 
tions through,  83-85,  89-90. 

Buffalo,  address  at,  226-230. 

Bulgaria,  American  attitude 
toward,  196,  238;  as  German 
tool,  213,  214.  See  also  Bal- 
kans;  World  War. 

Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Do- 
mestic Commerce,  work,  74- 
75. 

Bureau  of  Standards,  impor- 
tance, 73. 

Business,  reform,  3;  work  of 
Sixty-third  Congress,  55-56; 
problems  of  neutral,  56-57; 
unlocking  of  resources,  67- 
58;  Democratic  Party  and 
interests,  66-67 ;  democracy, 
132-137 ;  conservatism  of 
leaders,  132-133,  135-136 ; 
need  of  common  counsel, 
133-135 ;  American  timidity  in 
international,  137,  162;  de- 
velopment of  foreign,  157- 
159;    policy  of   future,    159; 


INDEX 


307 


and  law,  159 ;  Tariff  Com- 
mission and  facts,  160;  co- 
operation, 160-161 ;  with 
Latin- America,  161 ;  war-time 
profits,  200.  See  also  Bank- 
ing ;  Commerce ;  Finances ; 
Industry;  Trusts. 

Censorship,  need,  205-206. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
United  States,  address  be- 
fore, 70-77. 

Christianity,  reason,  50. 

Cincinnati,  address  at,  162- 
164. 

Citizenship,  address  to  natu- 
ralized citizens,  85-89.  See 
also  Immigration ;  Loyalty ; 
Patriotism. 

Citizenship  Convention,  ad- 
dress at,  139-143. 

Civics,  in  schools,  218-219. 

Civil  War,  meaning  of  years 
since,  10;  and  present-day 
tasks,  10;  veterans  and  spir- 
itual reunion,  32,  36;  Con- 
federate monument  at  Ar- 
lington, 34-36;  memorial  to 
women,  202,  204.  See  also 
Memorial  Day. 

Civilian  Advisory  Board  of 
Navy,  address  to,  93-94. 

Class  divisions,  dangers  and 
discredit,  166,  230. 

Claxton,  Commissioner,  and 
patriotic  teaching  in  schools, 
219. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  apprecia- 
tion, 5-6. 

Coal,  war-time  problem,  198. 

College,  ideals,  14-16;  and 
ideals  of  state,  15;  character 
of  training,  36,  126;  and 
breadth  of  view,  49,  136; 
message  to  college  soldiers, 
282-283. 

Colonies.     See   Dependencies. 

Commerce,  western  outlook  of 
world,  17;  influence  of  Pan- 
ama Canal,  17-18 ;  address  on 
national,   70-77;  cooperation, 


70-73;  governmental  inquiry 
and  scientific  assistance,  73- 
75 ;  information  and  legisla- 
tion, 75-76 ;  freedom  as  peace 
essential,  248,  279.  See  also 
Business ;  Freedom  of  the 
Seas ;  Merchant  Marine ; 
Tariff. 

Committee  of  Railway  Exec- 
utives, work,  238-239,  242. 

Compromise,  none,  in  World 
War,  268,  277-278.  See  also 
Peace. 

Concessions  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 18. 

Confederate  monument  at 
Arlington,  address,  34-36. 

Congress,  addresses  to:  on 
tariff,  6-8;  on  trusts,  22-27; 
on  tolls  on  Panama  Canal, 
27-28;  on  foreign  trade  and 
shipping,  35-60 ;  on  eight- 
hour  day  for  railroad  men, 
143-150;  on  submarine  war- 
fare, 111-117;  on  conditions 
of  peace,  172-179,  244-251; 
on  breach  with  Germany, 
179-183;  on  war  with  Ger- 
many, 188-197;  on  war  with 
Austria-Hungary,  232-238 ;  on 
government  control  of  rail- 
roads, 241-244;  on  Armistice, 
286-289;  work  of  Sixty-third, 
55-56;  veto  of  immigration 
bill,  67-70. 

Conservation,  need,  2-4. 

Conservatism,  of  Republican 
Party,  62-63;  animated,  63; 
of  leaders  of  business,  132- 
133;  American,   135-136. 

Consular  reports,  value,  74. 

Cooperation,  in  commerce  and 
business,   70-73,   160-161. 

Courage,  of  soldier,  34. 

Culberson,  Senator,  letter  to, 
117-120. 

Currency,  reform,  3;  Federal 
Reserve,  133,  136. 

Dardanelles,  in  peace  terms, 
249. 


3o8 


INDEX 


Daughters  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, and  monument  at  Ar- 
lington, 34-36. 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
present  significance,  39;  and 
sacrifice,  42. 

Declaration  of  War,  advised, 
against  Germany,  191 ;  against 
Austria-Hungary,   237-238. 

Defense,  preparedness  for,  93- 
94. 

Democracy,  America  and 
world,  20-21,  266-267;  and 
mutual  understanding,  35 ; 
and  international  justice,  40- 
44;  and  equality  of  opportu- 
nity, 53;  enthusiasm,  64;  and 
Democratic  Party,  76;  and 
purpose  of  United  States,  83, 
127,  129-130;  of  business, 
132-137;  vigor,  150-151;  mys- 
tery, 151;  justification  of 
faith,  151-152;  object  and 
commands,  154;  in  peace 
terms,  176,  186,  236-237,  248; 
and  League  of  Nations,  193; 
world  made  safe  for,  195 ; 
and  American  war  objects, 
192-193,  195,  197,  203,  207, 
209-210 ;  and  woman  suffrage, 
224-226;  meaning,  230;  and 
international  friendship,  260; 
and  lynching,  270-271;  as 
issue  of  the  war,  277.  See 
also   Public  Opinion. 

Democratic  Party,  meaning  of 
control,  1-5;  address  on,  61- 
67 ;  progressiveness,  ^  63  ; 
teamwork,  64;  and  business 
interests,  66-67;  and  democ- 
racy, 76;  results  of  control, 
184.     See  also  Politics. 

Dependencies,  policy,  13,  58-59, 
81;  principle,  124;  in  peace 
terms,  248. 

Detroit,  address  at,  132-137. 

Directorates,  interlocking,  24. 

Dollar  Diplomacy,  40. 

Drafted  men,  message  to,  222- 
223. 


Economy,  war-time,  201. 

Edison,  T.  A.,  letter  on  70th 
birthday,  183. 

Education.  See  College ; 
Schools. 

Egypt,  German  intrigue,  213. 

Eight-hour  day,  controversy 
on  railroads,  143-150;  just- 
ness, 145. 

Equality,  of  opportunity,  53; 
in  foreign  relations,  162;  of 
nations  in  peace  terms,  175- 
176,  186,  250;  of  nations  as 
issue  of  the  war,  277. 

European  War.  See  World 
War. 

Evolution,  moral,  55. 

Exchange,  foreign,  and  Amer- 
ican banks,   158-159. 

Expediency,  war  policy  and 
American  honor,  105-109. 

Facts,  respect  for,  101. 

Farm  Loan  Banking  System, 
253. 

Farmers.     See  Agriculture. 

Farmers'  Conference,  message 
to,  251-255. 

Federal  Reserve,  purpose  and 
opposition,  133,  136;  and  ag- 
ricultural loans,  253. 

Federal  Trade  Commission, 
suggested,  25. 

Fertilization,  government  aid, 
253. 

Fn^iBusTERiNG,  and  Pan- Amer- 
icanism, 100,  186. 

Finances,  of  Latin- America, 
18 ;  United  States  as  creditor 
nation,  79,  164;  foreign  ex- 
change, 158-159;  war,  191; 
of  government  control  of 
railroads,  243-244.  See  also 
Banking;  Business. 

Flag,  symbolism,  37;  as  em- 
bodiment of  experience,  90- 
92;  as  emblem,  210. 

Flag  Day,  addresses,  90-93; 
210-217. 

Food,  war-time  problems,  198- 
200,    252;    price    regulation, 


INDEX 


309 


255 ;  for  central  peoples,  287. 
See  also  Agriculture. 

Foreign  relations,  meaning  of 
isolation,  30;  altruism,  37-39, 
165;  United  States  as  world 
power,  principles,  39-43,  107- 
109;  limit  to  dollar  diplo- 
macy, 39-40;  confidence  in. 
161-162 ;  American,  and 
equality,  162;  society  of  na- 
tions, 162-164;  end  of  isola- 
tion, 164-165,  280.  See  also 
Business ;  League  of  Na- 
tions ;  Pan  -  Americanism ; 
Peace ;  World  War. 

FoRTHRiGHTNESS,  in  pubHc  life, 
62. 

Fourteen  Conditions  of  Peace, 
247-249. 

Fourth  Liberty  Loan,  address 
at  opening,  275-283. 

France,  greeting  to,  217 ;  essen- 
tials in  peace  terms,  248.  See 
also  Peace;  World  War. 

Frankness  in  peace  terms,  246- 
247,  280-282. 

Freedom.    See  Democracy. 

Freedom  of  the  Seas,  right  of 
neutrals,  83-84;  and  subma- 
rine warfare,  89-90,  112-116; 
no  abridgment,  106-107 ; 
travel  on  armed  merchant- 
men, 109 ;  war  zones,  111-112 ; 
in  peace  terms,  177,  186,  248. 
See  also  Submarines. 

Freight  rates,  and  eight-hour 
controversy,  146,  148. 

Friendship,  as  international  ce- 
ment, 258;  democracy  and 
international,  260. 

Fuller,  Chief-Justice,  on  Bran- 
deis,  118. 

Gardens,  war,  201. 

Genius,    and    democracy,    150- 

151. 
German-Americans,    and    war 

with  Germany,  196.    See  also 

Hyphen. 
German    people,    and    United 

States    in    World   War,    193, 


195,  196,  205,  212,  220,  228; 
and  peace  terms,  236,  277. 

Germany,  antebellum,  226-228; 
internal  affairs  and  peace 
terms,  250;  revolution,  287- 
289.  See  also  Autocracy; 
German  People;  Middle  Eu- 
rope Empire;  Peace;  World 
War. 

Gettysburg,  address  at,  10-13. 

Gompers,  Samuel,  tribute  to, 
229. 

Grain  Dealers'  Association, 
address  before,  157-162. 

Great  Britain,  treaty  and  Pan- 
ama Canal  tolls,  27-28.  See 
also  Peace;  World  War. 

Gridiron  Dinner,  address  at, 
107-109. 

Health,  guarding  of  national, 
4. 

Heflin,  Representative,  letter 
to,  204-205. 

Holidays,  benefit,  92. 

Hoover,  H.  C,  and  patriotic 
teaching  in  school,  219. 

Hospital  ships,  sinlcing,  189. 

Hyphen,  and  Americanism,  30- 
31,  130;  and  oath  of  allegi- 
ance, 86;  and  loyalty,  142; 
German-Americans  and  the 
war,  196. 

Immigration,  and  American- 
ism, 30-31,  87-88 ;  veto  of  lit- 
eracy test  bill,  67-70  ;  strength 
from,  85,  88;  expectations 
and  results  to  immigrants,  88, 
139-140;  and  World  War, 
101 ;  allegiance,  130 ;  policy, 
137 ;  influence  of  example  on 
immigrants,  140-143. 

Imperialism.    See  Autocracy. 

Inaugural  addresses,  first,  1- 
5;  second,  184-188. 

Indemnities,  and  reparations, 
war,  208,  222,  235,  236,  248- 
249. 

Independence,  American,  real- 
ity and  use,  39-45. 


310 


INDEX 


India,  German  intrigue,  213. 

Indianapolis,  address  at,  61-67. 

Industry,  preparedness,  102 ; 
war-time  problems,  198-201; 
German  antebellum  subsidy, 
227.  See  aiso  Agriculture; 
Business;  Labor. 

International  law,  opinion 
and  sanction,  46,  47;  obedi- 
ence to,  as  peace  term,  268- 
269.  See  also  Freedom  of  the 
Seas;  Neutrality. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, proposed  reorganiza- 
tion, 148. 

Intrigue,  German,  in  United 
States,  194-195,  211-212,  216; 
in  Mexico,  195,  211,  262.  See 
also  Autocracy;  World  War. 

Inventor,  Edison  as,  183. 

Isolation,  meaning,  30;  end, 
137,  164-165,  173,  178-179,  185- 
186;  and  League  of  Nations, 
280. 

Italy,  essential  peace  terms, 
249.  See  also  Peace;  World 
War. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  forthright- 

ness,  61-62,  66. 
Jackson  Day  address,  61-67. 
Japan,  German  intriguCj;  211. 
Jews,  restoration  of  Palestine, 

272. 
Junior  Red  Cross,  223-224. 

Labor,  hours  in  railway  service, 
143-150;  justness  of  eight- 
hour  day,  145 ;  and  class  dis- 
tinction, 165-166;  and  the 
war,  229-230,  273-274;  farm- 
ers' war  problem,  253-254. 

Labor  Day  Message,  272-274. 

Lamb,  Charles,  anecdote,  230. 

Lansing,  Secretary,  communi- 
cations through,  120-121,  219- 
222,  275,  283-286. 

Latin  America,  address  on  re- 
lations with,  16-21 ;  and  Pan- 
ama  Canal,   16-18,   161;   ad- 


verse circumstances,  18,  20; 
World  War  and  commercial 
dependence,  57 ;  business 
with,  161;  disinterested  serv- 
ice to,  261-266.  See  also 
Mexico ;  Monroe  Doctrine ; 
Pan- Americanism. 

Law,  precedent  and  moral 
judgments,  47-48;  purpose, 
141 ;  and  commerce,  159.  See 
also  International  Law. 

Lawyers'  history  of  the  United 
States,  155. 

Leaders,  character  of  Ameri- 
can, 91,  108. 

League  of  Nations,  in  peace 
terms,  125,  208,  249,  265,  269, 
278;  United  States  and,  173, 
178-179,  279-280;  as  issue  of 
the  war,  277. 

League  to  Enforce  Peace,  ad- 
dress to,  121-125. 

Lee,  R.  E.,  American,  36. 

Liberty.    See  Democracy. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  address  at 
birthplace,  150-154;  and  de- 
mocracy, 151-152 ;  isolation, 
153. 

Lloyd-George,  Premier,  and 
peace,  246. 

Lobby,  warning  on  tariff,  9. 

Loyalty,  oath  of  allegiance,  86, 
130 ;  address  on,  130-143 ;  ex- 
ample to  immigrants,  139-141, 
143 ;  basis,  141 ;  and  the  hy- 
phen, 142 ;  meaning,  142.  See 
also  Hyphen ;  Patriotism ; 
Unity. 

"LusiTANiA,"  protest  on  sink- 
ing, 89-90,  114. 

Lynching,  denunciation,  230, 
270-271. 

McAdoo,  W.  G.,  to  control  rail- 
roads, 240. 

McKiNLEy,  William,  and  pub- 
lic opinion,  ii;  and  Confed- 
erate monument  at  Arlington, 
35. 

McLemore  resolution,  letter 
on,  109. 


INDEX 


3ir 


Mediation,  position  of  United 
States,  80-81. 

Memorial  Day  addresses,  32- 
34,  209-210. 

Merchant  marine,  need  of 
ships,  policy,  59-60,  135 ;  con- 
vention for  safety  at  sea,  60 ; 
decay,  158;  war-time  build- 
ing, 198,  201. 

Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
address  at  conference,  77-78. 

Mexican  editors,  address  to, 
261-266. 

Mexican  War,  regrets,  264. 

Mexico,  internal  conditions  and 
foreign  relations,  ^  40-41; 
watchful  waiting  policy,  64- 
66 ;  facts,  72 ;  expedition  into, 
110-111 ;  trouble-makers,  111 ; 
attitude  toward  United  States, 
138;  border  expedition  and 
control  of  railroads,  149; 
German  intrigue,  195,  211, 
262;  attitude  of  disinterested 
service,  261-264 ;  false  news 
in,  262 ;  peace  and  develop- 
ment, 265-266.  See  also 
Latin  America;  Pan-Ameri- 
canism, 

Middle  Europe  Empire,  and 
German  peace  drives,  207, 
214-216,  228,  257 ;  German  de- 
signs and  the  war,  212-214, 
228;  overthrow  essential  to 
peace,  235. 

Middlemen,  and  war-time  prof- 
its, 200. 

Militancy,  extolled,  51-53. 

Militarism,  and  preparedness, 
101-102,  104,  128-129;  spirit, 
128.     See  also  Autocracy. 

Militia,  and  preparedness,  103. 

Milton,  John,  on  militancy,  51- 
52. 

Mob.    See  Lynching. 

Mobile,  address  at,  16-21. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  and  Pan- 
Americanism,  99,  130,  264- 
265;  as  world  doctrine,  178, 
263. 

Montenegro,    in    peace    terms, 


249.  See  also  Balkans,  World 
War. 

Morals,  cowardice,  52;  vigi- 
lance, 54;  evolution,  55. 

Mount  Vernon  address,  266- 
269. 

Nationality,  recognition,  in 
peace  terms,  176,  186,  208,  221, 
268 ;  as  issue  of  the  war,  277. 

Naturalization,  address  to 
new  citizens,  85-89  ;  character 
of  allegiance,  86.  See  also 
Immigration. 

Navy,  address  at  Annapolis,  36- 
39;  education  of  officers,  36- 
37 ;  ideal  of  unselfish  service, 
37-39;  no  prejudice  against, 
104;  and  World  War,  197. 
See  also  Armaments. 

Neutral  trade.  See  Freedom 
of  the  Seas. 

Neutrality,  American,  appeal 
for,  44-46;  basis,  79-80; 
United  States  as  mediating 
nation,  80-81 ;  and  reserve 
moral  force,  81-82,  131; 
rights,  despatch  to  Germany, 
83-85;  and  exportation  of 
arms,  84-85 ;  impossible  in  fu- 
ture, 163,  192-193.  See  also 
Freedom  of  the  Seas;  Sub- 
marines ;  World  War. 

New  York,  addresses  at,  100- 
105,  256-260,  275-283. 

News,  warning  against  false, 
82-83;  false,  in  Mexico,  262. 
See  also  Associated  Press. 

Nobility,  American,  33. 

Northwest  Loyalty  Meetings, 
message  to,  231. 

Opportunity,  equality  in  Amer- 
ica, 53;  and  immigration  lit- 
eracy test,  68-69. 

Pacific  railroad  building,  59. 
Palestine,       restoration       for 

Jews,  272. 
Panama  Canal,  and  outlook  of 

world  commerce,  17-18  ;  ques- 


312 


INDEX 


tion  of  tolls,  27-28,  42;  and 
Latin  America,  161. 

Pan  -  American  Scientific 
Congress,  address  to,  95-100. 

Pan-Americanism,  basis,  95- 
100 ;  essential  unity  of  Amer- 
icas, 95-97 ;  economic  interde- 
pendence, 97-98 ;  necessity  of 
political  harmony,  97-99 ;  and 
Monroe  Doctrine,  99,  130, 
264-265  ;  essentials  of  political 
amity,  99-100;  and  domestic 
peace,  100;  proposed  guaran- 
tee of  territorial  integrity, 
264-265.  See  also  Latin 
America. 

Patriotism,  as  a  principle,  29; 
and  honor  and  sacrifice,  41- 
44;  and  holidays,  92;  teach- 
ing in  school,  218-219.  See 
also  Hyphen ;  Loyalty. 

Peace,  and  self-sacrifice,  33,  75 ; 
and  American  principles,  88, 
93-94,  101;  enforcement  of 
world,  121-125 ;  American 
concern  and  attjtude  as  neu- 
tral, 122,  124-125,  131,  168, 
173-174 ;  and  open  diplomacy, 
122-123,  247-248,  279 ;  and  im- 
partial justice,  123-124,  278- 
279,  287;  fundamentals,  124; 
League,  125,  172-174,  178-179, 
208,  249,  265,  269,  278-280; 
and  preparedness,  138;  justi- 
fiable breach  of  world,  164; 
request  to  belligerents  to 
state  terms,  167-170;  repHes, 
172;  address  on  conditions, 
while  still  neutral,  172-179; 
no  balance  of  power,  174-175, 
208;  peace  without  victory, 
175 ;  equality  of  nations,  175- 
176,  186,  250;  democracy  and 
recognition  of  nationality, 
176,  186,  208,  221,  268 ;  outlet 
to  the  sea,  176,  237 ;  freedom 
of  the  seas,  177,  186,  248; 
limitation  of  armaments,  177, 
186,  248;  Americanism  of  es- 
sentials, 177-179,  186-187,  236- 
237;    concert   and   American 


war  objects,  192;  concert  and 
democracy,  193 ;  indemnity, 
reparation,  208,  222,  235,  236, 
248,  249;  German  drives,  ob- 
ject, 206-207,  214-216,  228,  234, 
244,  256-257;  objections  to 
status  quo  ante,  207,  220-221; 
answer  to  Papal  proposi- 
tions, 219-222 ;  test,  221 ;  none 
with  autocracy,  221-222,  233, 
277,  284,  285 ;  first  war  state- 
ment of  essentials,  233-237 ;  no 
vindictive,  234,  236,  250,  279; 
an^  internal  affairs  of  Cen- 
tral Powers,  235-236,  249, 
250 ;  Brest-Litovsk  negotia- 
tions, 244-245 ;  frankness, 
246-247,  280-282;  Russia  and 
definition  of  terms,  246-247; 
fourteen  conditions,  247-249 ; 
colonies,  248;  conditions  as 
to  Russia,  248 ;  as  to  Belgium, 
248-249 ;  as  to  France,  249 j^  as 
to  Italy,  249;  as  to  Austria- 
Hungary,  249 ;  as  to  Balkans, 
249 ;  as  to  Turkey,  249 ;  as  to 
Poland,  249;  as  to  Germany, 
250 ;  four  conditions,  268-269 ; 
overthrow  of  autocracy,  268; 
respect  for  international  law, 
268-269;  rejection  of  Aus- 
tria's conference  proposal, 
275  ;  no  compromise,  277-278 ; 
five  conditions,  279  ;  commer- 
cial freedom,  279;  basis  of 
common  interest  of  all,  279; 
question  of  armistice,  283- 
286;  German  acceptance  of 
conditions,  283-284 ;  armistice 
signed,  effect,  286-289;  relief 
of  central  peoples,  287 ;  revo- 
lution in  central  governments, 
problem,  287-289.  See  also 
World  War. 

"Peace  without  victory,"  175. 

Penn,  William,  as  spiritual 
knight,  14-15. 

People.  See  Democracy:  Pub- 
lic opinion. 

Persia,  German  intrigue,  313. 


INDEX 


313 


Philadelphia,  address  at,  39- 
44,  85-89. 

Philippines,  larger  self-gov- 
ernment, 13,  58-59.  See  also 
Dependencies. 

Pittsburgh,  address  at,  49-55. 

Poland,  restoration,  176,  249. 

Politics,  control  by  independ- 
ents, 63  ;  defined,  97 ;  and  pre- 
paredness, 104-105.  See  also 
Democratic  Party;  Republi- 
can Party. 

Pope,  answer  to  peace  proposi- 
tions of,  219-222. 

Pou,  Representative,  letter  to, 
109. 

Preparedness,  for  defense,  93- 
94;  address  on,  100-105;  and 
uncertainty  of  World  War, 
100-101;  and  militarism,  101- 
102,  104,  128-129;  military 
and  industrial,  102 ;  cruel 
waste  in  lack,  102-103;  and 
militia,  103 ;  immediate  needs, 
103-104 ;  naval,  104 ;  and  poli- 
tics, 104-105;  purpose,  127- 
128;  and  peace,  138. 

Presidency,  responsibility,  107. 

Prices,  war-time  regulation, 
200,  255. 

Prohibition,  war-time,  260-261. 

Property,  protection,  4. 

Provincialism,  outgrown,  137, 
185-186. 

Prussia.  See  Autocracy ; 
World  War. 

Public  Opinion,  and  interna- 
tional law,  46-47 ;  and  munici- 
pal law,  47-48;  as  mainspring 
of  administrative  action,  61, 
83,  88-89,  107-108;  and  false 
news,  82-83  ;  and  experience 
of  the  nation,  91-92 ;  and  con- 
ception of  America,  133;  as 
basis  of  legislation,  135 ;  and 
reform,  141;  and  issues  of  the 
war,  281.  See  also  Democ- 
racy; Leaders. 

Punishment,  effect,  137. 


143-150 ;  legislation  recom- 
mended, 148-149 ;  proposed 
federal  military  operation 
(1916),  149;  war-time  prob- 
lems, 200;  reasons  for  gov- 
ernment control,  238-244 ; 
work  of  Committee  of  Rail- 
way Executives,  238-239,  242 ; 
guarantees,  239,  243 ;  finan- 
cial aspect  of  control,  243-244. 

Raw  Material,  war-time  prob- 
lems, 198-201. 

Red  Cross,  American,  appeal  as 
neutral  to  support  war  work, 
171-172 ;  address  at  dedication 
of  building,  202-204;  import- 
ance of  war  work,  202-203; 
support,  203,  258-259;  junior 
work,  223-224;  address  on 
honor  to,  256-260;  war  v/ork 
and  American  character,  257 ; 
and  world  friendship,  258 ; 
German  violations,  259 ;  work 
of  women,  259-260. 

Reform,  dependent  on  popular 
support,  141. 

Reparations.     See   Indemnity. 

Republican  Party,  unprogres- 
siveness,  62-64.  See  also  Pol- 
itics. 

Resources,  development  and 
regulation,  57-58. 

Revolution,  no  external  en- 
couragement, 100,  186  ;  in  cen- 
tral nations,  287-289.  See 
also  Russia. 

Rights,  protection,  4. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  and  pub- 
lic opinion,  ii. 

Rumania,  in  peace  terms,  249. 
See  also  Balkans. 

Russia,  revolution,  194;  mes- 
sage to,  206-208 ;  German  in- 
trigue, 234 ;  Brest-Litovsk  ne- 
gotiations, 244-245 ;  condition 
and  faith,  246-247;  essentials 
in  peace  terms,  248 ;  Ameri- 
can purpose  to  support,  257, 
263-264,  268. 


Railroads,  eight-hour  question.       Safety  at  sea.  convention, 


GO. 


314 


INDEX 


Salesmanship  Congress,  ad- 
dress at,  132-137. 

Schools,  patriotic  teaching, 
218-219;  and  Junior  Red 
Cross,  223-224. 

Scott,  H.  L.,  Indian  lore,  126. 

Sea,  outlet  to,  in  peace  terms, 
176,  237.  See  also  Freedom 
of  the  seas;  Merchant  Ma- 
rine. 

Seed,  supply  by  government, 
253. 

Self-Determination  of  Amer- 
ican life,  30-32,  127-128. 

Serbia,  in  peace  terms,  249. 
See  also  Balkans. 

Shadow  Lawn,  address  at,  164- 
165. 

Sheppard,  Senator,  letter  to, 
260-261. 

Sherman  Antitrust  Law,  need 
of  clarifying,  24-25.  See  also 
Trusts. 

Sherwood,  General,  and  pre- 
paredness, 138. 

Shipping.  See  Merchant  ma- 
rine. 

Slavery,  women  and  question, 
155. 

Smith-Lever  Act,  253. 

Social  questions,  present,  4; 
rise,  156. 

Socialists,  use  by  autocracy, 
207. 

Soldier  and  self-sacrifice,  33, 
75;  courage,  34;  Bible  read- 
ing, 217-218.    See  also  Army. 

South,  self-expression,  16 ;  and 
war-time  agriculture,  200. 

Southern  Commercial  Con- 
gress, address  before,  16-21. 

Spanish-American  War,  un- 
preparedness,  103. 

Spies.    See  Intrigue. 

Status  Quo  Ante  Bellum,  ob- 
jections to  return  to,  207,  220- 
221. 

Stone,  Senator,  letter  to,  105- 
107. 

Strikes,  war-time,  229.  See 
also  Labor. 


Submarines,  sinking  of  Lusi" 
tania,  illegality,  89-90;  no 
submission  to  illegal  warfare, 
105-107;  violation  of  faith, 
106,  li4,  115;  ultimatum  on 
warfare,  111-117,  179-186 ; 
German  abandonment  of  pol- 
icy, 120-121,  180;  contingency 
denied,  121,  180-181;  renewal 
of  unrestricted  warfare,  181- 
182,  188-190 ;  protection 
against,  182-183 ;  faith  ^  in 
abandonment  policy,  188 ;  im- 
practicability of  armed  neu- 
trality against,  190.  See  also 
Freedom  of  the  Seas;  Neu- 
trality; World  War. 

Subsidies,  German  industrial, 
227. 

Supreme  Court,  qualifications 
of  Brandeis,  117-120 ;  on  need 
of  facts,  145-146. 

"Sussex,"  sinking,  114,  179. 

Swarthmore  College,  address 
at,  14-16. 

Taft,  W.  H.,  and  public  opin- 
ion, ii;  and  Confederate 
Monument  at  Arlington,  35. 

Tariff,  need  of  reform,  3 ;  ad- 
dress on  reform,  6-8 ;  protec- 
tion as  monopoly,  7;  reform 
and  competition,  8 ;  construc- 
tive reform,  8 ;  warning  on 
lobby,  9.    See  also  Commerce. 

Tariff  Commission,  and  facts, 
160. 

Tennyson,  Lord,  on  patriotism, 
29. 

Territory,  no  further^  aggran- 
dizement of  American,  19, 
81 ;  integrity  and  Pan-Ameri- 
canism, 99. 

Toledo,  address  at,  138-139. 

Tolls,  on  Panama  Canal,  27-28, 
42. 

"Too  Proud  to  Fight,"  89. 

Trusts,  regulation,  22-27 ; 
agreement  of  opinion  on,  22- 
23;  constructive  reform,  23; 
interlocking  directorates,  24; 


INDEX 


315 


clarifying  antitrust  law,  24- 
25 ;  administrative  commis- 
sion, 25 ;  punishment  of  indi- 
viduals, 25 ;  interlocking 
individual  control,  26.  See 
also  Business. 
Turkey,  as  German  tool,  215, 
214;  American  attitude  to- 
ward, 196,  238;  and  peace 
terms,  235,  249.  See  also 
Middle  Europe  Empire ; 
World  War. 

Union,  restoration,  10,  32,  35. 

United  States,  elements  of 
greatness,  2;  of  evil,  2-3; 
Civil  War  spirit  and  present 
tasks,  10-13;  self-determined 
life,  30-32;  purpose,  83,  87, 
127,  129-130,  136;  interna- 
tional spirit,  137,  140 ;  power 
and  its  use,  142 ;  rise  of  social 
questions,  156. 

Unity,  American,  and  World 
War,  187,  203,  204,  209,  216, 
231-233,  257,  274;  war  and 
world,  257-258,  260.  See  also 
League  of  Nations. 

Urbana,  message  to  Farmers' 
Conference  at,  251-255. 

Veto,  of  immigration  test  bill, 

67-70. 
Villa,  F.,   expedition   against, 

110. 
Visit   and    Search,    84.     See 

also   Freedom  of  the  Seas; 

Submarines. 

War,  and  national  unity.  See 
also  Army;  Militarism;  Pre- 
paredness; World  War. 

War  Zones,  illegality,  90,  111- 
112.    See  also  Submarines. 

Washington,  George,  and  na- 
tional self-determination,  30; 
as  type,  152;  and  creation  of 
nation,  266,  267. 

Waste  in  Ainerican  life,  2-3, 
201. 

Watchful  waiting,  64-66. 


Water-Power,  development  and 
regulation,  57-58. 

Webb,  Representative,  letter  to, 
205-206. 

Weizmann  Commission,  272. 

West  Point,  address  at,  125- 
131. 

Williams,  George,  and  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  54. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  forms  of 
communication  with  people, 
ii-iii;  habits  of  speech,  iv-v; 
growth,  v. 

Wise,  Rabbi,  letter  to,  272. 

Woman  Suffrage,  address  on, 
154-157 ;  growth,  154 ;  and  so- 
cial questions,  156;  force, 
156-157;  method,  157;  and 
principles  of  World  War, 
224-226. 

Women,  memorial  to  Civil  War 
workers,  202,  204;  in  Red 
Cross  work,  259-260.  See 
also  Woman  Suffrage. 

World  power.  United  States  as, 
39-44,  81,  142. 

World  War,  Wilson's  ad- 
dresses, iii-iv ;  appeal  for 
American  neutrality,  44-46 ; 
effect  on  neutral  industry,  56 ; 
and  America  at  peace,  67; 
ideals  and  spiritual  forces, 
77-78;  uncertainty  at  end, 
100-101 ;  American  rights  and 
principles,  v ;  expediency, 
105-109,  117;  ultimatum  to 
Germany  on  submarines, 
111-117,  179-180;  German 
submission  to  ultimatum,  120- 
121,  180-181,  188;  American 
interest,  121-122,  127  and  se- 
cret diplomacy,  122-123;  in- 
evitable, 126 ;  keeping  out  of, 
138,  139,  183;  origin,  163; 
severance  of  diplomatic  rela- 
tions with  Germany,  179-183, 
188-190;  unavoidable  Ameri- 
can problems,  184-185 ;  Amer- 
ican attitude,  185-186;  neces- 
sity of  American  unity  to- 
ward,   187;    war    with    Ger- 


3i6 


INDEX 


many,  188-197 ;  American 
task,  191-192,  251,  272-273; 
American  objects  and  altru- 
ism,   192-193,    195,    197,    198, 

203,  205,  207-210,  216,  221- 
222,  233,  247,  251-252,  257, 
263;  German  designs  and  in- 
trigue, 193-195,  211-214,  216; 
United  States  and  Germany's 
alfies,  195-196,  237-238 ;  public 
appeal  for  support,  197-201; 
food  problems,  198-201,  252; 
industrial  problems,  198-201; 
economy,  201;  grimness,  202- 
204;  American  unity  in,  203, 

204,  209,  216,  231-233,  257,  274 ; 
censorship,  205-206;  message 
to  drafted  men,  222-223;  la- 
bor and,  229-230,  272-274; 
German  aggression  and  pur- 
pose, 226-228;  when  won, 
235-236;  war  with  Austria- 
Hungary,  237-238 ;  govern- 
ment control  of  railroads, 
238-244 ;  war-time  agricul- 
ture, 251-255;   duty  to   win, 


256;  and  world  unity,  257- 
258,  260;  prohibition  during, 
260-261;  birth  of  United 
States  and,  267 ;  opposing  ele- 
ments, 267-268;  as  war  of 
emancipation,  273;  purposes 
and  issues,  276-277,  280 ;  pub- 
lic understanding  of  issues, 
280-281;  people's  war,  281; 
message  to  college  corps,  282- 
283 ;  renewal  impossible 
under  armistice,  286;  Ameri- 
can share,  286;  object  at- 
tained, 286-287.  See  also 
Armistice;  Autocracy;  Free- 
dom of  the  Seas ;  Middle  Eu- 
rope Empire ;  Neutrality ; 
Peace ;  Preparedness ;  Red 
Cross;  Submarines. 

Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation, address  on,  49-55; 
elements  of  strength,  49-51; 
atmosphere,  51 ;  militancy,  51- 
52;  progressive  leaders,  52- 
53;  progress,  53-54. 

Zionist  Movement,  273. 


G>mpiete  List  of  Titles 

For  convenience  in  ordering  please  use  number  at  right  of  title 

A  MODERN  BOOK  OF  CRITICISMS  (81)  Edited  with  an 

Introduction  by  LUDWIG  LEWISOHN 
ANDERSON,  SHERWOOD   (1876-        ) 

Winesburg,  Ohio,  (104) 
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ATHERTON,  GERTRUDE   (1859-     ) 

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BSARDSLEY,  THE  ART  OF  AUBREY  (1872-1898) 

64   Black  and  White  Reproductions    (42)    Introduction  by 
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Zuleika  Dobson  (50)  Introduction  by  FRANCIS  HACKETT 
BEST  GHOST  STORIES  (73) 

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BEST  HUMOROUS  AMERICAN  SHORT  STORIES  (87) 

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BEST  RUSSIAN  SHORT  STORIES  (18) 

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YEATS 
BUTLER,  SAMUEL  (1835-1902) 

The  Way  of  All  Flesh  (13) 
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CARPENTER,  EDWARD  (1844-         ) 

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Rothschild's  Fiddle  and  Thirteen  Other  Stories  (31) 
CHESTERTON,  G.  K.   (1874-        ) 

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Men,  Women  and  Boats  (102)   Introduction  by  VINCENT 
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Creatures  That  Once  Were  Men  and  Four  Other  Stories 
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The  Mayor  of  Casterbridge   (17)   Introduction  by  JOYCE 
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Erik  Dorn  (29)  Introduction  by  BURTON  RASCOE 
HUDSON,  W.  H.   (1862-        ) 

Green    Mansions     (89)       Introduction    by    JOHN    GALS- 
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IBANEZ,  VICENTE  BLASCO    (1867-        ) 

The     Cabin     (69)       Introduction     by     JOHN     GARRETT 
UNDERHILL 
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A  Doll's  House,  Ghosts,  An  Enemy  of  the  People   (6) ; 
Hedda   Gabler,   Pillars   of   Society,   The   Master   Builder 

(36)   Introduction  by  H.  L.  MENCKEN 
The  Wild  Duck,  Rosmersholm,  The  League  of  Youth  (54) 
JAMES,   HENRY    (1843-1916) 

Daisy  Miller  and  An  Internaitional  Episode  (63) 
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LATZKO,  ANDREAS  (1876-        ) 

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Love  and  Other  Stories  (72)       Edited  and  translated  with 

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Thus    Spake    Zarajthustra     (9)       Introduction    by    FRAU 

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HUNTINGTON  V/RIGHT 
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O'NEILL,  EUGENE   (1888-) 

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OUIDA 

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Selections    from   the   Writings    of   Thomas    Paine    (108) 
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PATER,  WALTER  (1839-1894) 
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PEPYS',  SAMUEL;  DIARY  (103) 

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PREVOST,  ANTOINE  FRANCOIS   (1697-1763) 

Manon  Lescaut  (85)  In  same  volume  with  Daudet's  Sapho 
PSYCHOANALYSIS,  AN  OUTLINE  OF  (66) 

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SCHNITZLER,  ARTHUR    (1862-        ) 

Anatol,  Living  Hours,  The  Green  Cockatoo  (32) 

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Bertha  Garlan  (39) 
SCHOPENHAUER,  ARTHUR    (1788-1860) 

Studies     in     Pessimism      (12)        Introduction     by     T.     B. 
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SHAW,  G.  B.   (1856-       ) 

An  Unsocial  Socialist  (15) 
SINCLAIR,   MAY 
The  Belfry  (68) 
STEPHENS,   JAMES 

Mary,  Mary  (30)  Introduction  by  PADRIAC  COLUM 
STEVENSON,  ROBERT  LOUIS  (1850-1894) 

Treasure  Island   (4) 
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The  Ego  and  His  Own  (49) 


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Married  (2)   Introduction  by  THOMAS  SELTZER 

Miss  Julie,  The  Creditor,  The  Stronger  Woman,  Motherly 
Love,  Paria,  Simoon  (52) 
SUDERMANN,  HERMANN  (1857-) 

Dame  Care  (33) 
SWINBURNE,  ALGERNON  CHARLES    (1837-1909) 

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THOMPSON,  FRANCIS  (1859-1907) 

Complete  Poems  (38) 
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Redemption  and  Two  Other  Plays    (77)    Introduction  by 
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TURGENEV,  IVAN  (1818-1883) 

Fathers  and  Sons  (21)  Introduotion  by  THOMAS  SELTZER 

Smoke  (80)  Introduction  by  JOHN  REED 
VAN  LOON,  HENDRIK  WILLEM  (1882-        ) 

Ancient  Man  (105) 
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Candide  (47)  Introduction  by  PHILIP  LITTELL 
WELLS,  H.  G.  (1866-        ) 

Ann  Veronica  (27) 

The  War  in  the  Air  (5)  New  Preface  by  H.  G.  Wells  for 
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WHITMAN,  WALT  (1819-        ) 

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Selected  Addresses   and   Public   Papers    (55)    Edited  with 
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WOMAN  QUESTION,  THE  (59) 

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Ellis,  G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  etc.    Edited  by  T.  R.  SMITH 
YEATS,  W.  B.   (1865-        ) 

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